The Bow and the Swords
by DarkBrooks
Summary: Two friends wake up in Middle Earth after a nuclear explosion. They join the company of Thorin Oakenshield in an attempt to save the line of Durin from the fate that awaits at Erebor. Eventual KilixOC ThorinxOC
1. Prologue

**Hello, this is the prologue to our story. It is not mandatory to read, but if you want to know a bit of background about the OCs and how they came to Middle Earth (to some extent) read it. If you just want to get to the Hobbitness just start from chapter 1! Home is behind, the world ahead!**

In a bomb bunker in the ruins of London, there lived two survivors. It is the year 2019, and a nuclear war has torn most of the world to shreds. Major cities were abandoned at the start of the conflict, leaving behind vast quantities of valuable resources. Recently, volunteers have begun forage missions to gather the lost wealth. Firearms were all confiscated early on in the war to prevent dangerous riots. Defended by old world weapons, the sword and the bow, two such survivors search the ruins of the once great London. But there are no weapons that can defend against the power of a nuclear bomb.

Their temporary shelter consisted of a collapsed subway tunnel, rubble blocking up both ends, a single crevice, leading to above city, acting as an entrance to the dismal hide-away. The lodging was dark; poor quality bulbs hanging loosely from wires illuminated the enclosed space. Broken containers, picked over for useful items, sat abandoned in the dust ridden corners, while an impressive collection of weaponry was displayed on a long low table; twin swords in their matching scabbards and an elegant black recurve bow, besides which layer a selection of arrows, their steel heads gleaming in the low said table sat two large canvas sacks, bulging with a varying selection of food. The owners of this humble abode descended from a match shift entrance, by the means of a rather rickety ladder.

The first of the figures appeared in the bunker; her arms full of food salvaged from the city nearby. She headed over to the area of the hideout where the food sprawled across the floor and dumped the heavy cargo on the floor with a sigh of relief. She wondered over to where the weapons were being stored and pulled one of the swords off the wall.

She sat down in an old, bedraggled chair and began to diligently sharpen the sword using a worn down whetstone. As she gracefully moved the whetstone over the blade, her long blonde hair lit up in the moonlight which was shining through the entrance to the bunker. She sighed again and turned her storm-grey eyes up to the ceiling, once again flicking her long, slightly tangled hair out of her face. Her face looked ghostly pale against the darkness of the room and the dusky clothes she was wearing. As she turned back to her sword, her hair once again fell into her eyes and she irritably brushed it away, only for it to fall back down again. She let out a sound of irrepressible anger as she grabbed her hair and tied it into a tight pony-tail at the base of her neck so that not a single hair was covering her eyes. Happy again, she went back to sharpening her sword, not long after an unfastened lock of hair shifted into her view. Seething with anger, she grabbed her sword and swiftly chopped off the loose lock of hair, leaving a satisfied look on her face but a strange section of hair awkwardly hanging on her head. Turning back to her sword, she frowned again. It seemed she always had a look of displeasure on her face; her rather thick eyebrows arched inwards giving her a constant scowl, which disappeared as she heard someone else enter the bunker.

Her companion hoped down from the unstable ladder, carrying a bundle similar to the one which she had dispensed of by the table. She was significantly shorter than the first girl, and had dark brown hair, streaked with natural highlights, pulled up into a neat high pony tail, leaving her eyes free of any hanging strands of hair. Beneath a pair of thin arched eyebrows, which matched her hair in colour, lay two blue-grey eyes, speckled with patches of light blue and dark blue, the pupils rimmed in pale green. She quickly surveyed the room, and hopped lightly over to the table, dropped her baggage, and completed the movement with a quick twirl, spinning in 1800 before gliding over to where the first girl still wrestled with her blonde hair. Bending over, studiously avoiding the lethal point of the sword.

"Helloo Em, what ya doing?" she inquired, jabbing a finger dubiously at the lock of hair lying abandoned on the arm of the chair. "What happened there?"

"My hair was annoying me on purpose. It was simply asking to be cut off, and got what was coming to it. Watch the sword Poop"

"Silly Em"

Poop, or Poppy as she was more formally known, straightened and away waltzed over to where the black bow lay on the make shift table top. As she held it up, it was illuminated in the darkness by the moon (which was glowing brilliant through the narrow opening) its midnight blue and black pattern shining into the night. As the moon's beams hit the bow, it appeared to light up, emitting rays of sparkling silver light from the wood. Reaching for a torch which sat on the counter adjacent to the bow, she flicked it on and turned to the wall furthest from the opening, opposite the table and the chair in which Em, or Emily, sat. By the light of the torch, it was possible to see that the rough cracks and niches formed by the uneven collapse of rocks now acted as a make shift shelf for a huge variety of books, from relatively modern copies complete with cheap paper covers to older manuscripts bound in rough leather. The girl reached out a small hand, clad still in fingerless gloves, and perused the books, finally withdrawing a well-thumbed novel entitled 'The Hobbit'. Sitting on a piece of falling masonry, she opened it and began to read. Emily looked up from her sword care and watched her friend for a while.

"Reading that again?" she asked, mildly disapproving. "You still haven't finished 'The Silmarillion.'"

"It would appear so, yes" Poops muttered, lost in the novel. "Besides, I think that we deserve a break. Today's forage mission was hard, there were more of those hunters again, and we got a decent amount of food for camp."

"Aren't you in the least bit worried about the number of people in the city? What if 'they' launch another bomb, cause they think that we are regrouping again?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Just put down your beloved sword and come read some Tolkien. Honestly, who doesn't love Tolkien? I would give anything to go to Middle Earth. Just to escape this pointless war." The girl seated in the chair muttered the last part mainly to herself and her book than her friend sitting across the room.

Em conceded the point and put down her gleaming sword and now reduced whet stone. Heaving herself out of the chair with much exaggerated moaning, she wandered over to examine the shelf at close quarters. Instead of reading one of the older books, she withdrew a new, magazine like book. A large image of Thorin Oakenshield was printed over the cover. Without preamble, she sat directly on the floor and opened it. She ran her fingers over the brightly coloured images of the thirteen dwarves, one hobbit and the towering grey figure. Engrossed as they both were in their various novels, a low whining sound in the distance went majorly unnoticed.

At first it was just at the bottom of the human hearing range. Gradually it grew, the sound increasing to a bone shuddering hum. The unstable roof above them began to shake. It was only when a small pebble dropped onto the open pages of Poppy's book did she look up. Instantly aware of the increasing noise, she dropped her book and shot to her feet, sprinting across the room to grab up her bow and sling the quiver of arrows across her shoulders. Jerked out of her reading trance by the sudden movement, Emily dropped the book and rose to her feet, spinning around in a vain attempt to see the oncoming missile.

"What the HELL is that?" Poppy exclaimed.

"No clue," muttered Emily still trying to see through the solid stone ceiling.

"It might just be a plane. Nothing important," Poppy said hopefully

"Indeed, but it could be an enemy plane, which would be important. We need to check it out."

"Fine." she said with a shrug.

They made their way to the surface, via the rickety ladder. The surrounding city was a mass of fallen skyscrapers and rubble. Overhead, the sky was ,for once, clear and deep blue. The incoming missile stood out from the blue backdrop, the sun glinting off its metallic outer shell. It shot towards the two girls, leaving a trial of murky smoke in its wake. They had only a moment to face each other.

"It's a nuclear bomb!" Poppy called over the rumbling noise of the missile

Emily turned to her companion and then back to the bomb which was rapidly approaching; giving her just enough time to yell;

"We're f*cked!"

before the world dissolved into chaos.


	2. Chapter 1

**And thus, the epic tale began! Please R&R :)**

Fog from the night was beginning to settle on the mountain top as the sun began to show between the clouds. That sun, which could barely penetrate the darkness of the mountain, shone down to were two bodies lay, sprawled in the snow, obviously unaware of their surroundings. The ice on the frost-laden trees began to melt as the sun began its attack on the snow, and the valley at the base of the mountain was ambushed by a slow trickle of water from the mountain side. Even down in the valley, the fog from the mountains malignantly prevailed, shadowing it with mist and haze. The Misty Mountains loomed ahead, standing tall over the valley but still shadowed with mist. Near the top of one of the mountains, a small blue bird landed lightly on a tree, causing a slow trickle of snow to gradually slip down the mountain. The snow made its way down the slope until it landed on the nose of someone lying on the cold ground, causing the person to wake up with a start.

Emily opened her eyes to the white world around her, trying to free herself from the snow which was beginning to emboss her. As she went to shovel some snow away from her side, her hand came into contact with one of her swords.

"Why are my swords here? What happened after the missile?" she thought to herself.

Her mind was swimming with questions as she spun around to glance at Poppy, who was lying head down in the snow, her black and blue bow strapped to her back with a quiver of needle sharp arrows. Emily had almost freed herself when she felt something very hard (and most likely metal) hit her across the head, and she promptly slumped back into the snow, unconscious.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The stench was what eventually caused Poppy to wake up. Flies buzzed through the rank air. Twisting her head to the side she caught sight of Emily propped up against the filthy stone walls amongst piles of varying junk. Swords and a collection of odd wicker baskets were filled haphazardly against the farthest wall, while the floor nearest to the low entrance of the cave was covered in gold coins. A rather stupid arrangement, she thought, as any old person could waltz in and steal the rich treasure trove. Abruptly, she heard a collection of voices approaching the entrance of the cave. Quickly, she whipped her head around and hissed at Emily;

"Em? Are you awake? There are people coming!"

Em jerked upwards with a bleary look in her eyes, "Of course I'm awake, you moron."

"There are people coming into the cave! We have to hide! Who knows who they might be?"

Hastily, Poppy swivelled around so that she could reach her boots. To her mild surprise, her boots where no longer heavy and made of stiff synthetic fabric, but consisted a supple leather and now reached her mid-calf. However, both of needle sharp daggers were in place inside said boots. With some effort she managed to unsheathe one of them, despite her bound hands. She flipped it through the air towards her friend, who was similarly bound. Quickly Emily cut the bonds securing her hands and feet, then turned to free Poppy. The voices were growing ever closer.

"Hurry up you half-wit" the brunette hissed before securing herself behind a pile of inconspicuous baskets.

Emily spun around, in order to follow her companion, but her desperate attempt to manoeuvre herself over to said inconspicuous baskets was interrupted when the sword on the right of her belt caught on a nearby rocky ledge and fell to the floor with a large clunk.

Emily whirled around to retrieve the deserting sword, but her companion shouted out at her, grabbing her from behind and pulling her behind the baskets.

"What are you doing, you fool? Someone- or _something_- is coming inside the cave!"

"But my sword!" the blonde whimpered, glancing forlornly at her sword, which was lying abandoned amongst the rubble and various junk littering the cave.

Em took one more despairing glimpse at her beloved sword before Poppy seized her head, pushing her into the ground so that she may be concealed by the baskets.

Em roughly shook her head to release herself from her friend's grasp. Nevertheless, much to her annoyance, she freed a few locks of hair which thus fell perceptibly onto her face.

"I swear, I am going to cut all my hair off." She hissed into the darkness, grabbing it as it floated effortlessly into her eyes.

Poppy just elbowed her, hence silencing her.

As Em was about to complain about her obtrusive hair yet again, they saw several figures entering the cave, being led by a tall man with a long grey beard. The old man walked over to near where the companions were hiding and caught sight of Emily's sword lying discarded on the ground. He appeared to call out to one of his companions who was busying himself looking through a collection of swords. Emily held her breath as the old man, laden with a very long (and tangled) beard, bent down to examine the sword. He picked it up and held it in his wrinkled hands, feeling the freshly sharpened blade of the weapon. This, evidently, was all too much for the hidden Emily to bear. Before Poppy could stop her, she drew her remaining sword from its belt and leapt from the hiding place. She stepped towards the old man and held her sword to his neck,

"I would drop that if I were you" she hissed in a threatening manner.

The old man instantly dropped her sword to the floor, but appeared to have an amused expression on his face. One of his companions, who had been looking through the swords, hurried over to where they stood and drew his sword, calling out to no doubt the rest of their company which was still at the entrance to the cave. Before the dark haired man could turn around to summon them, he was met with one of Poppy's arrows which was positioned two centimetres away from his nose. For a brief moment, piercing, ice blue eyes met quixotic blue-grey eyes before the brunette blinked awkwardly and turned her attention back to where Em was scooping her sword off the floor.

"I do hope I did not offend you, my dear Lady" the old man murmured, "For I thought this fine sword had been abandoned"

The blonde lowered her swords and gave Poppy the signal to lower her bow, both of the girls sheathing their weapons hereafter. By this time, the rest of the company had come into sight, all pushing past each other to try and get a better view of what was going on.

Emily just turned back to the old man and muttered, "Yes…okay then… well that is quite alright…I was just wondering… you know, we're just a bit confused, you know…"

"Where the hell are we? And who the hell are you?" Poppy interrupted her friend, who seemed to be lost for words.

The old man chuckled and exclaimed, "I am Gandalf the Grey, or the Wandering Wizard, you may have heard of me, and you appear to be in a troll horde"

"A troll horde?!" both the girls shouted simultaneously

"It appears so yes, as we encountered some trolls quite recently. This seems to be their cave. The real question is: why are you in here?"

"Yes" Said the dark haired man with the piercing blue eyes, stepping forwards to view them better, "I would like to know that too"

The two girls stood still, their mouths agape as they tried to reason with their whereabouts. The daunting thought finally dawned on them that they had no idea how they had come to this place.

"I woke up in the snow before" Emily began, ignoring Poppy's shocked face, "But I can't remember anything else, something knocked me out before I could get my bearings."

Gandalf narrowed his eyes in concentration and replied to them, "It seems to me, that the trolls themselves took you to their horde. I cannot imagine why though…"

"I can!" shouted a tall, bald and tattooed dwarf in a crude manner. All the other dwaves took a moment to grasp the meaning of his statement, before dissolving into sniggers.

Emily glared at him with disapproval before turning back to Gandalf, who seemed to be the only one possessing any sense so far.

"Who are _you _though?" she inquired, "All of you?"

"This my dear Lady, is the company of Thorin Oakenshield" gesturing to the dark haired dwarf who was still glancing at Emily with an air of disapproval. He proceeded to scowl at her and stated questionably, "Now that you know everything we are willing to tell you about us, I think we have the right to know your names."

Emily and Poppy quickly glanced at each other and decided subconsciously that they did not wish to tell this strange band of men (who outnumbered them fourteen to two) of their real names.

"My name in Leiress" Emily stated, trying to hide the guilt in her eyes as all the dwarves stared at her.

"And mine is Amavel" Poppy said, attempting to stare them all in the eye, which failed profusely

The two friends glanced at each other again, embarrassed that they had named themselves as their _Skyrim_ characters.

"Well, Leiress, Amavel, I do believe we were meant to meet you in this cave tonight." Gandalf proclaimed mysteriously, "And I would ask you to join us"

Emily and Poppy stared at the old wizard, trying in vain to gather their thoughts. Before either of them could reply, Thorin spoke up.

"We cannot have women on our journey, Gandalf; they will slow us down and be a _distraction _to the rest of the men"

"Excuse me?!" Poppy shouted, surprising Emily as her usually timid friend confronted the band of men. "Are you saying we would SLOW YOU DOWN?! I'm sure Em- I mean_Leiress_and I could easily out run all of you! And remind me again, who was it that almost sent an arrow flying into your temple?"

She finished her exclamation by giving Thorin a furious glare, leaving him looking angry and startled but oddly _amazed. _Gandalf, however, was chuckling away in the corner, lighting up his pipe and smiling at the two girls.

"I am given the impression, Thorin, that these girls would be more than capable of keeping up with us, as they look extremely light on their feet. Lighter even than you perhaps"

Thorin scowled and turned to the rest of the company, looking for support. His company, however, seemed to not mind the idea of having two women travelling with them, and quickly warmed up to the suggestion, much to Thorin's annoyance.

Em laughed as she saw Poppy gloating in her victory (as she had not had her share of verbal victories in the past) and then abruptly realised that they had no idea what the purpose of this journey was.

"Ah, you are wondering of the purpose of this quest" Gandalf said to Emily's shocked face, "And I can assure you that in good time we will tell you. But for now, all you need to know it that I see that you will have a part to play in this quest yet."

Gandalf smiled at Poppy and Emily before mystifyingly returning to examine the collection of swords. "I will give you some time to think about it of course." He continued, "But we will be leaving very shortly, I warn you. I do not wish to dwell in this foul place."

**Next chapter soon. Because we like cliffhangers...**


	3. Chapter 2

Poppy and Emily sat down near the baskets that had served as their hiding place as most of the dwarves left the cave, leaving Gandalf and Thorin talking among the swords and a red headed dwarf mentioning something about a 'long term deposit'. The dampness of the cave mixed with the putrid smell did not aid their minds in coming to a solution.

"Poppy…" Emily began, "I really don't think we should go. I mean, we don't even know where we are! We have to rationally think things through"

"Em!" Poppy laughed, "Since when have you been rational? I think we should go, you know, to prove what's-his-name wrong"

Emily smirked and looked up, catching sight of Gandalf and Thorin hurrying outside the cave. As Emily was about to ask Poppy where she thought they were going, she heard an approaching noise, heralding the arrival of many impromptu shouts and curses.

The two friends quickly sprang up from where they were sitting and sprinted to the outside of the cave, glad to finally be rid of the horrid smell. Outside the air was clean and the sun was shining lightly through the thick canopy of trees. Emily and Poppy awkwardly positioned themselves behind a mossy boulder, trying to get a satisfying look at the scene that was being presented in front of them. The dwarves all seemed to have their weapons drawn at the approaching noise, although the fat dwarf only had a cooking pan and Emily was doubtful as to how cooking apparatus would be useful in battle. They heard a rustling in the trees and the sight that greeted the stunned girls was one that for some reason reminded them of another moment in time.

"Poppy" Emily began, "I think I am getting de-ja vu"

Just as the words came out of the blonde's mouth, a raggedy old man laden with sticks, twigs and a glorious layer of bird droppings in his hair came zooming past, riding some sort of sledge that seemed to be being pulled by- _rabbits?_ He halted just in front of Gandalf, shouting very strange blasphemies such as "Thieves! Fire! Murder!

"I know this man, twigs, rabbits and all." Emily exclaimed, "I know him, I know but I can't remember where the hell he is from." She squinted sideways. "Wait… is that bird poo. How does one get that much poo in one's hair?"

"Its Radagast." Poppy muttered slowly, her face filled with concentration as she tried to remember facts that were just beyond her reach. "Radagast…"

"Radagast! Radagast the brown! What on earth are you doing here?" interrupted Gandalf, peering bemusedly at the bedraggled figure seated on the sledge. The rabbits had promptly gone back to eating the surrounding grass.

"I was looking for you Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong", babbled Radagast, then he paused as he was trying to regain he train of thought. It somewhat ruined the air of tension and suspension which had formed since the wizard's dramatic entrance. The two girls exchanged glances, baffled by the scene unfolding before them and the increasingly annoying de-ja vu that they both shared.

"Yes?" replied the old grey wizard, obviously impatient at the unnecessary pause.

Still the Brown wizard paused, staring wildly into thin air.

"He has completely forgotten what he was saying", sniggered Poppy to her friend as they stood by the boulder observing the scene. Gandalf glared at them over Radagast's poo-stained shoulder.

Oblivious to the exchange, the dirty man astride the rabbit drawn sledge muttered to himself, **"**Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue."

Apparently it wasn't the only thing on the tip of his tongue. After a moment of bewilderment, Radagast stuck out his tongue, revealing a twig like insect.

"Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's a silly old... stick insect"

The insect in question was removed from Radagast's tongue by Gandalf. It hung by its tail, swinging from the Grey wizard's fingers. The surrounding dwarves looked slightly disconcerted at the turn of events. Obviously none of them had ever felt the need to store a stick insect in one's mouth. The rather delicate hobbit, which stood just by Gandalf look disgusted by the entire affair, looked ready to faint onto the surrounding shrubbery.

"Poor stick-insect. Probably stank like seven hells in there." Emily whispered to the short girl standing directly next to her. Poppy smothered a giggle and replied in a squeaky voice, mimicking the insect.

"Animal cruelty! I will sue you for this! Kidnap! Torture! You call yourself the guardian of the woods!"

After releasing the stick insect, Gandalf had helped Radagast off his sledge and lead him off to one side into the surrounding forest. As a result neither wizard heard the comments. However the latter comment caused an inelegant snort from Emily. Thorin glared disapprovingly over at them.

"This is a serious matter, not one to be joked about. Obviously you have no idea what's at stake here. Be quiet and act like members of this company."

His words were rather hypocritical, as most of the other dwarves seemed to find the remarks highly amusing, although Poppy doubted that they knew what 'sue' meant.

Completely ignoring Thorin's rather harsh comment, Emily focused on the memory which was forming at the back of her thoughts.

"Something interesting is about the happen" she said slowly. Poppy glanced at her in exasperation.

"More interesting than waking up in a troll cave? Or perhaps something more interesting than a senile old wizard driving a rabbit cart and bursting in through the trees screaming about fiery murderers?"

"No need to be so scathing, just someth… Ohshititsagiantdog." The last few words were said so quickly that they blended together.

"It's a what?" replied Poppy, turning to follow her friends line of vision, just in time to see a huge dog like creature with an abnormally large head leap from the boulders surrounding the small clearing.

Reacting instinctively she reached over her shoulder, drew an arrow and in one smooth motion knocked it to her bow string, drew, aimed and fired at the charging creature. It thudded to the ground with a black arrow protruding from its large eye socket.

"OH, what the HELL is that" she gasped at the huge corpse.

"There's another!" Emily screamed in a rather uncharacteristically high pitched voice, pointing to the opposite end of the small glade.

The huge beast in question leapt into the air, but was rapidly taken down by a well-placed arrow from Kili.

"Warg-Scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind." Thorin exclaimed, spinning around to watch the trees. Gandalf had returned, trailing Radagast behind him.

"Wargs! Orcs! As in, monsters from middle earth? Minions of Sauron? FROM MIDDLE EARTH?" exclaimed Poppy.

"Of course they are wargs from Middle earth. Where else would by be from?" replied Bofur, confused at the insinuation that there was anywhere else that the orcs could have been from.

Poppy and Emily exchanged bewildered glances. Either these strange men were on a very serious drug or they actually were in Middle earth. Which would explain the swords, rabbit sledge, wizards, orcs and the multitude of other fantasies which had been mentioned in the past few minutes.

While the short conversation between the two was occurring, Gandalf had bellowed at Thorin for some reason which both girls had missed. However they did catch his final words.

"You are being hunted"


	4. Chapter 3

**This chapter is of the warg attack. Sorry for all the description... we are trying to set the scene. This will be the last chapter with loads of description. In the next chapter we will get straight to the point :P Thanks!**

The entire company froze at the words. Once the full impact of their contents sunk in, chaos ensued, with various dwarves shouting suggestions, and various dire warns. It was only then that it became apparent that some ponies were missing.

"To think", Emily muttered, "That we have just arrived in the world of our dreams, a place we have been fantasising about for god knows how long, only to die, killed by a pack of stinking orcs."

"The irony" whispered Poppy, her eyes fixed at the disrupted group of dwarves. Above the babble of their conversation came Radagast's surprisingly strong voice. "I'll draw them off"

Gandalf cast him a look which obviously questioned the brown wizard's already delicate sanity

"These are Gundabad wargs. They will outrun you." He cried, irritated at Radagast's ridiculous intrusion

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits" stated Radagast. Gandalf glanced back at him, impressed by the rabbit species. Any particular meaning was lost on the girls, who had been paying close attention to the conversation. "I'd like to see them try." finished Radagast triumphantly.

After a slight pause, Gandalf nodded, confirming the plan. He gestured with his staff, encouraging the now silent collection of dwarves onwards, out of the trees.

As they moved off, swords and axes clanking, Emily and Poppy leapt after them without a second thought. They weren't facing a pack of angry wargs alone.

Out of the trees and onto an open rolling plain they ran. Glancing over her shoulder, Emily caught sight of the warg pack entering the trees. A little distance away, Radagast burst out of the shadows, howling at the top of his lungs. "Come and get me!" He tore away on his rabbits.

"Hurry up" shouted Gandalf from the front of the party.

And so they sprinted away across the grass land with little cover but the rocks. All their weapons were drawn, evidently expecting trouble. As they turned a corner, the plain which had previously been hidden by a large boulder was revealed. To their horror, Radagast and his trailing wargs were drawing back into view.

"The brainless idiot's leading them in circles." Breathed Emily, aghast as the wizards course brought the wargs circling close to the rock where the small company hid.

"Quickly!" Gandalf spun around and began to lead them in a different direction. The hills began the change, giving way to small clusters of trees as they ran. However the dwarves were tiring. Bombur in particular was beginning the lag behind. Poppy glanced around, trying to determine if Radagast was anywhere near them, with the wargs he was still leading in a circle. A quick look over her shoulder confirmed that they were not behind them, but she promptly ran into a solid wall of furs and iron as she slammed into Thorin's back as he suddenly froze behind an overhanging rock. Some dwarves skidded right past him into the open. A smaller, younger looking dwarf with a remarkably funny face ran straight out into the open, oblivious of the parties' sudden halt.

"Ori, no! Come back!" whispered Thorin, grabbing hold of the back of his shirt and yanking him back behind the cover. Bending out to see what had forced the sudden stop, Em saw Radagast pelting past. Leaning back to rest against the rock she managed, between gasps for air (for Emily had never enjoyed running), to wheeze.

"God, the wargs are still chasing him? They must know its wild rabbit chase"

Standing right next to her Poppy sniggered softly. "I see what you did there. Wild rabbit chase, wild goose chase."

Her friend nodded modestly. "I know. I am amazing."

Two young dwarves, one with long dark hair, the other with blonde hair and a strange beard exchange confused glances. Obviously they were not familiar with the saying. Any further conversation was silenced as Gandalf, who had been examining the landscape for some unknown feature suddenly barked an order. "Come on! Quick!"

Thus the running commenced. However relatively soon they paused again to let Radagast pass by.

"Where are you leading us?" asked Thorin, in what Poppy deemed as a completely uncalled for show of resentment. Gandalf appear not to hear, for he didn't answer. Behind her head came the slight scratching of claws on stone. The company froze, flattening themselves against the rock to avoid detection. Looking down the row, she caught sight of an almost imperceptible nod from Thorin as he gestured towards the dark haired dwarf's bow. Slightly irritated that he hadn't asked her, she watched while an arrow was withdrawn from the dwarf's quiver and was knocked to the bow. After a slight consideration, she did the same. The dwarf spun around facing the rock and ran backwards, giving himself a clear view of the orc. However, his arrow didn't kill the creature, simply sent it tumbling over the outcrop into the row of dwarves. Instantly she aimed and fired, releasing the arrow straight into the warg's thick skull. The creature collapsed with a slight yelp, dead. Its rider leapt up brandishing a crude sword. It had time to sound a single shriek before the point of two swords showed through its chest. Emily withdrew the matching blades and allowed the corpse to crumple slowly to the ground, blood leaking from the wounds.

However it was too late. The orc had managed to warn the rest of the pack. Even from a distance their howls could be heard as they pelted towards the company.

"There they are!" bellowed a dwarf with flaming red hair, revealing his skill at pointing out the obvious.

The call "we're surrounded!" came next. Turning around, Poppy saw that the wargs had spilt, and the group had circled around to trap them between a pincer like movement. Raising her bow she emptied two warg saddles, their riders tumbling lifeless to the dry grass.

"Where's Gandalf?" she yelled, too occupied with her oncoming death at the hand of a monster to spin around and locate the wizard. "Can't he zap them with lightning?"

Apparently, she wasn't the only one thinking along the same lines. Kili voiced the same question, and this time was answered by a large dwarf with serious side burns, wielding two matching axes.

"He has abandoned us!" said dwarf shouted hysterically, his voice marred by a strong Scottish accent.

"No.", Emily muttered slowly, coming up next to Poppy, both swords raised. "No, he hasn't. In a moment he will come out from between those rocks there and…"

Her statement was cut off as Gandalf popped up from a recently revealed crack between two boulders.

"This way you fools!" he cried, then disappeared behind the rock. Needing no encouragement, the two young women began to rapidly back pedal towards the haven, wargs temporarily held off by the hail of arrows issuing from Kili and Poppy's bows.

Safety was within reach, with the crack barely a meter away when a warg decided that the threat of the arrows were insufficient to hold it off. The monster charged. Its last thoughts were cut short as a sword, held by the slim figure in front of it swung downwards in a glittering arch and buried itself in the frontal lobe of its rather small brain.

"Poppy! Move!" ordered Emily, withdrawing her no-longer gleaming sword from the mess of what had once been a warg's head. Her friend fired two more arrows before turning and pelting back to the rocks, where she slipped past Thorin and slid down a small incline to land on a stone floor behind the two dwarves (who must be brothers as they were hardly separated). Emily landed beside her. Warily, all thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, a wizard and two completely lost humans watched the entrance, weapons ready for any attack. No attacks came. From the land outside came the braying of horns and the thunder of hoof beats. A cry, slight squawks from the orcs and whimpers from dying wargs echoed down from above.

"Elves", muttered Thorin in disgust when he saw their arrows.

Poppy turned to face him. Frankly, she had found him rude from the moment they had met. Thinly veiled sexism aside, it appeared this oath was racist too. Just as she was about to voice her thoughts, she felt a hand, clad in leather and mail gauntlets lightly touch her shoulder. It was Emily, wordlessly warning her to leave the arsehole alone, simply because they were outnumbered.

All musings were interrupted by the bald dwarf with rather serious sideburns bellowing from the back of the cave, "I can't see where the path way leads? Do we follow it or no?"

That was a rather stupid question, as they had nowhere else to go.

"Follow it of course" exclaimed a dwarf sporting a rather fetching hat.

"I think that would be wise", muttered Gandalf, once again amused by the dwarves' ability to state the obvious.

After a long a twisting journey through a rather cramped stone tunnel, with many a mishap involving the greatly expanded waistline of a certain dwarf, the company of dwarves including a hobbit, a wizard and two young women exited the tunnel, coming out onto a large even ledge. The stone shelf over looked a large valley, the setting sun illuminating the peaks and turrets of a transcendent city.

"The Valley of Imraldis. In the Common Tongue, it's known by another name." stated Gandalf, gesturing at the elegant settlement nestled at the end of the valley.

"Rivendell", muttered the hobbit, obviously entranced by the captivating scene.

"Rivendell… Rivendell… RIVENDELL! I FINALLY can remember" cried Poppy, gesturing wildly with her bow.

Spinning around to face the bemused dwarves she began to single them out.

"You are Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the mountain. You think you killed Azog the defiler, the pale orc but…" she paused, struggling to remember. However, her spotlight was taken by Emily, who evidently had recalled some facts as well. She turned to the brothers.

"You're Fili, and you're Kili" she proclaimed, jabbing a finger into the dwarf's chest. "You are son of Dis, who is sister to Thorin. You're his nephews! And you are born five years apart." Losing interest in the two, she turned to the rest of the group, who stood shell shock, stunned by the girl's revelations.

"You are Balin, Dwalin, again brothers. You are Bifur, Bofur, Bombur." She declared, pointing them out in turn. "And…"

She was interrupted as Poppy regained her thoughts. "You are Ori, Nori, Dori, Oin, Gloin.", she confirmed.

"What devilry it this?!" bellowed Thorin as the girls paused for breath. "From where did you steal this knowledge?"

"We…we..weeee… listened?" supplied Emily weakly, looking down at her feet and brushing another strand of fly away hair from her eyes.

"Yess…. We listened to all your… conversations!" supplied Poppy.

"Of course", announced Gandalf, turning toward a flight of stars which lead down to the Elven town, and affectively finishing the conversation. "You are most certainly her for a reason", he mumbled to himself. The company trooped towards the safe haven, the girls sulking at the back, hoping their outburst was ignored, the dwarves hurrying to the front to avoid said girls and the wizard striding ahead, eager to reach the safety and food which the warm lights of the oncoming settlement promised.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hence, another chapter. In this chapter the company have arrived in Rivendell and things begin to get pretty steamy between Emily and a certain someone ;) Also, in the next chapter, Poppy and Emily will finally find out why they have been summoned to Middle Earth. I hope you like :) please R&R **

The clear, running water was flowing smoothly over the small rocks and underneath the bridge on which Emily was standing. The sun shone down on the stream, reflecting the pure light onto the pristine trees that bordered Rivendell. Emily had to pull her eyes away from the exquisite sight to follow Gandalf and the dwarves across the narrow bridge. All the dwarves jammed onto the bridge, reluctant to be left behind, leaving Poppy and Emily at the back of the group, cautiously crossing the bridge behind them.

"We really are being left behind" Emily sniggered as they tentatively crept across the bridge.

The hobbit, Bilbo, who was walking in front of the friends, seemed just as astonished to be in Rivendell as they did. Although he did not seem to be enjoying crossing the narrow bridge which revealed a vast valley below them. As they neared the end of the bridge, they approached a round stone platform, foreshadowed by two stone figures of elves, staring into the eyes of all who entered the city. Emily quickened her pace as they passed through the walkway being guarded by the stone elves, unsettled by their watchful eyes and sharp stone spears.

The whole company came to a halt in front of a great stone staircase, ornate with vines of moss and glowing candles. As the dwarves stood there uncomfortably, Em and Poppy stared around themselves in amazement. It was an understatement to say that the city was beautiful. Every building seemed to be crafted in immaculate detail and every crevice of the elven city radiated purity and vivacity. Emily's daydreams were interrupted by the arrival of a dark haired elf descending down the staircase.

"Mithrandir!" he greeted Gandalf as he approached the company.

"Ah! Lindir!" Gandalf exclaimed as the elf moved towards him.

Despite Lindir's friendly appearance, Thorin seemed to be whispering suspiciously to Dwalin, obviously doubtful of the elf's fidelity.

Poppy sighed and muttered to Emily, "Honestly! Thorin… _and_ the rest of the dwarves need to stop being so proud! I mean it was the elves that saved us from those wargs."

"Well, that's the stubbornness of dwarves for you" Emily replied as Gandalf and Lindir began to say something in elvish.

"My Lord Elrond is not here" the elf proclaimed, causing a memory to form in Emily's mind. Something… something in the back of her head was telling her that something was about to happen. She just could not remember _what. _

"Where is he?" Gandalf inquired before the sound of an elven horn sounded across the bridge.

Everyone turned back to the entrance to see a stream of horses flooding onto the walkway.

"Ifridi bekâr!" Thorin ordered in Khuzdul when the elves started to charge. "Close ranks!" Causing all the dwarves to form a tight circle, with Emily and Poppy trapped in the middle of it. Poppy, who was quite short and trapped between Bombur and Bifur, was unable to see anything. Emily, however, poked her tall head above the line of dwarf heads to see a procession of elves approaching.

"It's Elrond with the elves!" she whispered to Poppy, who was still being crushed by Bombur as the dwarves unsheathed their weapons.

"Well should we get ready to attack? Well, obviously it is the elves but I think we should, you know, help or something…" she gasped, trailing of in thought at the end of her sentence as she tried to squeeze her way free.

"I don't know, I think we should-"

Her words were cut short as the elves, led by Elrond and riding horses, began to circle the dwarves. The dwarves held up their weapons, still ignorant to the fact that the elves were not going to attack.

"It is futile…" Emily whispered under her breath, only to be met by a confused look from Gloin, who seemed to have heard her words.

"Gandalf." Elrond greeted as he dismounted his horse.

"Lord Elrond." Gandalf replied with a content smile before the two of them began to converse in elvish. The dwarves still stood in a tight circle, some still holding up their weapons (namely- Thorin and Dwalin) but the horses stood still.

Nevertheless, the dwarves cautiously lowered their weapons as they listened to the elf lord and Gandalf.

"Strange for orcs to come to close to our borders" Lord Elrond began, "something or someone has drawn them near"

"Yeah, no shit" Em muttered sarcastically to Poppy, who elbowed her friend henceforth.

"Ah, that may have been us" Gandalf confessed, gesturing to the rest of the company at the same moment that Thorin stepped forward, with, as usual, a grim look on his face.

"Welcome, Thorin, son of Thrain" Elrond greeted

"I do not believe we have met" Thorin stated, in an attempt to be polite but condemnation still showing in his eyes.

"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain"

"Indeed, though he made no mention of you"

Emily nudged closer to Poppy to whisper mockingly, "Well, isn't Thorin a basket of roses"

Poppy just gave an awkward laugh as Elrond began to speak in Elvish.

Emily sighed irritably and stated again to her friend, "Poppy, don't you think he's-"

Her words were once again cut short by Gloin angrily questioning whether or not Elrond was insulting them.

"No, master Gloin" Gandalf smiled. "He offers you food"

The suggestion of food seemed to appeal to the dwarves and Elrond led them into the city.

On the way, Lord Elrond spotted the girls among the dwarves and made his way over to them.

"I did not think that there would be women among the company of Thorin Oakenshield" Elrond stated, but in a friendly manner.

"Neither did I" muttered Thorin as he barged past them with yet another scowl on his face.

"I would really like to give king whats-his-face a piece of my mind" Poppy glared

"I'm sure in time you will" the elf laughed, "But for now, let me lead you two to dinner. And afterwards, maybe you would like to clean yourselves in one of the elven baths. I can imagine the dwarves would not be to… _keen_ on hygiene"

"Yes!" Emily exclaimed excitedly, "A bath would be excellent!"

The girls then happily made their way to the dinner that had been prepared by the elves, knowing that they would get to wash afterwards.

They sat down at the far end of the table near Fili and Kili and began to eat the salads that had been placed in front of them.

"You were very good with your bow when the wargs attacked" Fili stated matter-of-factly to Poppy.

"Maybe we can practice together?" Kili added

"Yes…of course!" Poppy replied, half way between attempting to swallow a dry piece of lettuce.

"You were very good with your swords too" Kili continued, turning to Emily.

Emily blushed fervently and hurried to reply, "Um…thank you, I guess I have had a lot of practice with swords"

The words were out of Emily's mouth before she realised how wrong they sounded. Simultaneously, both she and Poppy burst out laughing, leaving confused expressions on Fili and Kili's faces.

"Is something funny?" Kili asked, turning to his brother who just shrugged.

"I- can't- stop-laughing!" Emily panted, trying to compose herself. "I am sorry; I look hideous when I laugh"

"No you don't!" Kili protested, "Don't say that!"

The blond blushed even more ardently, receiving many urgent nudges from Poppy from under the table.

"Well…um, thank you…" she stammered uneasily, "And you are very good with your… um…arrows"

Poppy sniggered very loudly from behind her hand as she struggled to keep in her laughter.

They talked like this for most of the afternoon, and gradually the girls came to know more about Fili and Kili. When they had finally finished their dinner (which most of the dwarves were not pleased with, due to the lack of meat) the girls got up for the table in order to go to the baths.

"Where are you going?" Fili asked as Poppy and Emily got up to leave

"Lord Elrond told us that we are welcome to take baths here" Poppy replied

"And thus, we plan on taking one" her friend added, turning away from the two brothers with Poppy following close behind.

"Wait! Can we come too?" Kili asked after them, a look of innocence in his eyes.

Emily's mouth practically dropped to the floor at his words. She attempted to reply something but Poppy interrupted her,

"We are having a bath" she said, staring at Fili and Kili, who still had no look of understanding on their faces, "You know in the water" Still nothing. "_Naked_" This word erupted an extremely embarrassed blush from both Kili and Fili, who continued to blush as Poppy dragged Emily away to an elf, who led them to the baths.

* * *

"Well, that was awkward" said Emily, practically panting as they finally reaching the baths. "I have one question though, Poppy" she began, "How are _we _going to bathe?"

"Just…turn the other way. We'll just both sit facing away each other. There, no harm done" her friend replied

"Okay…it's going to be a pretty boring bath…"

"Would you rather Kili join you?" Poppy inquired mockingly, causing Emily to blush once again.

"YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Emily yelped, pushing Poppy into the water. Poppy quickly grabbed her friend's arm and they both fell into the water, fully clothed, causing Poppy to rise to the surface with an un-amused scowl.

"You look like Thorin when you scowl" Em jeered, splashing her friend, who still held an annoyed grimace. Poppy sighed and splashed Emily herself, erupting in sputters and chokes from the blonde.

"Thanks, Em" Poppy said ironically, "Now we both have no clothes to wear because ours are too WET!"

Emily's smile disappeared as the truth dawned on her. Nevertheless, she crept out of the baths in her wet clothes and asked one of the elves if she and Poppy could be brought some clothes.

When the clothes arrived, Emily returned triumphant, but Poppy still had an uneasy look on her face.

"Elf clothes won't fit me! I'm too short!" Poppy said, uncertainly holding up the clothes to her body.

"Well it's either large elven clothes or your wet _Thieves Guild* _armour"

Emily smirked and put on the pale blue robes. "I am really not one for wearing dresses"

"Well, at least yours fits you!" Poppy frowned as she pulled on her midnight blue robes, which came about five centimetres off her small waist. "If only we had some good old safety pins…"

"Why does the dress have to fit?" Emily asked suspiciously

"I don't know…nothing ever fits me!" Poppy stammered

Emily just tried to accept this answer as the two friends left the baths and walked down the corridors to return to the rest of the company.

* * *

_*Thieves Guild is a reference to the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim._

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Bit of a long chapter... explained at the end :p PLEASE review!**

The pair began to move back towards the courtyard in which the dwarves were going to sleep, easily distinguished by the raucous shouting that echoes from it. However, as they neared their desired location, a rather haggard figure in a large grey robe walked out in front of them. Poppy managed to stop in time to avoid a collision, but Emily was not so lucky. She went down in a flurry of swords and grey fabric. As she struggled to her feet, the figure which she had crashed into revealed itself as none other than Gandalf the Grey.

"There you are! Where have you been?"

"What is it to you?" grumbled Emily as she climbed up off the floor.

"There is a council gathering. The White council. Your unexpected arrival has upset many things in this world, and we must discuss your path in middle earth."

He strode off, grey cloak swirling dramatically. Poppy glanced to her friend, who shrugged, before they both followed the retreating grey figure.

Evidently, Gandalf was familiar with the paths of Rivendell, as he quickly led the two girls to a small courtyard which they had passed an hour before. The stars provided a soft light for the scene, and a crescent moon, the same one that had revealed moon runes, shone down on the setting. The courtyard itself contained only a table and two chairs. Already seated there was Lord Elrond, and aelven women who has irritatingly familiar, and…

"Saruman", breathed Poppy.

The tall figure draped in white cloth sat at the end of the table furthest from them, looking quite similar to a crow. As they entered, he had turned to face them.

"Welcome to Middle Earth." He said with a rather perverted smile, displaying yellowing teeth. Beside her, Poppy felt Emily start to speak.

"Thank you welcoming us." She interrupted rapidly.

"You have presented quite a conundrum to us. Two girls, appear in the middle of the wilderness, with the ability to predict the future." Saruman sat back with a sigh, and Poppy had the rather uncomfortable feeling that he was deciding whether to kill them or not. However, it appeared that Emily was not aware of any such subtleties.

"OH! Saruman as in the one that…" she paused. Originally, she was going to say, 'the one that joins Sauron', but in the circumstances, she decided that it may not be the wisest idea.

"that… lives at Isengard." She finished lamely.

Obviously irritated at the interruption, Saruman sat forward and continued along his line of thought.

"Your abilities make you a danger here, and it would be far simpler to send you back to where you came from. However, I do not have to power to attempt such a thing here. You must return with me to Isengard. From there I will send you home."

With the knowledge of Saruman's betrayal in mind, Poppy was reasonably certain that even if they reached Isengard, it would be highly unlikely if they would ever see their true home again.

This time, Emily was also aware of the implications. Attempting a mystical and all-knowing air, she drew herself up and proclaimed, "I fear we can do no such thing. My ability has given me a vision. If we ever wish to see our homeland, we must continue with the company of Thorin Oakenshield to the Lonely Mountain."

"That quest will not continue." Broke in Saruman

"Then there is nothing more for us to discuss." Emily finished, and spun on her heels, slipped slightly on the polished floor and strode out, robe billowing. Poppy turned to follow her, glancing around at the council. Saruman looked peeved, while Elrond looked flabbergasted. Surprisingly, Gandalf and the elven woman, whose name was Galadriel as Poppy now remembered, both looked reasonably quite composed. Looking away, she followed her friend out of the silent courtyard.

"What the heck was that about?" she exclaimed, running to catch up with her friend as she strode on ahead.

Emily stopped and turned to look at her friend. "Don't you remember what happens at the end of 'The Hobbit'?"

"Yeah… They all arrive at the mountain and kill the dragon." Poppy said slowly

"And then Thorin, Fili and Kili are all KILLED in a battle." Her friend cried, waving her hands for emphasis. "The line of Durin is practically wiped out!

Poppy stood stunned. Until now, she hadn't remembered the rather depressing ending to the story they were now living, but as soon as her friend said it, she realised it was true.

"Well… what can we do?" she muttered, feeling helpless. She may think Thorin was a misogynist arse, but she had always felt betrayed by the tragic ending of the tale.

"I am not sure if you remember, but as we were running from the wargs, you shot some orcs."

"Yeeesss, because they were going to eat us!"

"And I killed a warg which was attacking us just before we all escaped into the cave."

"Look Em, I remember that, but how is that important?"

"Those orcs weren't supposed to die! And the warg I killed was SUPPOSED to be killed by Thorin! Don't you see, we can change the future, and make sure that Thorin, Fili and Kili don't die!"

"Why would we want to do that?"

Emily wacked her smaller friend round the head. "Because we can, and I have always wanted those three to survive. Tolkien was an idiot to write that ending. Besides, if we went with Saruman, the chances are he would either rape us and kill us, or feed us to the Uruk Hai."

Slowly Poppy nodded. This was quite possibly the most idiotic plan she had ever come up with, but it was a lesser of two evils.

"Ok." She sighed, "I agree."

Emily jumped up and down, flapping her arms like a chicken.

"Yay! Thank yoouuuu Poops!"

"No problem…but I have one question: did you by any chance hear all of this from the Lady Galadriel in your head?"

Emily gave a sheepish look. "Well, maybe… but that's not the point!"

She stopped flapping and yawned.

"Man, I am tired. I. Need. Sleep."

And with that, the two girls returned to where the dwarves were preparing to sleep, their heads and hearts now laden with the seemingly difficult task before them.

* * *

By the time the girls returned, most of the company had settled down their bedspreads for the night. Upon seeing the lack of space, Poppy hurried to claim a space on the outskirts of the group next to Bilbo. She laid down her wet clothes and looked back up at Emily, who looked down on her friend anxiously.

"There is nowhere for _me _to sleep" the blonde began, "And the place you have chosen is too small for two people"

"Oh I don't know! I just got the last spot left! Looks like you will be sharing with someone!" Poppy replied, tripping over her over-sized dress as she tried to stand up. "I am off to try and find something to fix this dress… I look ridiculous. Be back soon"

Emily sighed petulantly as she watched her friend disappear. She watched the dwarves sitting and talking together and Bofur throwing a sausage at Bombur, causing the table the large dwarf was sitting on to break under his weight. Emily was about to go and steal Poppy's sleeping place when she felt someone tap her shoulder. Her blonde hair whipped around, almost flicking Kili in the face, and she raised her eyebrows at him, expectantly.

Kili's dark eyes looked back at her and he stammered, "Oh, I wasn't going to say anything, just goodnight"

"Well, it doesn't look like it is going to be a very good night for me" Emily muttered grumpily, "I have nowhere to sleep"

Kili blinked rapidly a few times before saying, "Really? Well, you can share my bedspread… if you like… I have a lot of space"

Emily gaped back at him, too stunned to reply. She tried desperately to form a few words of reply before Kili cut her off, "You don't have to, Leiress, I was just offering. Bombur has some spare space aswell"

"No! No! I'll sleep with you!" Emily practically shouted, just as the clearing went silent. All the other dwarves stopped what they were doing to look up at the duo who were now awkwardly standing on the edge of the clearing.

"What are you up to, Master Kili?" Dwalin bellowed as the other dwarves began to laugh at the couple standing with a look of pure embarrassment on their faces. "Thorin wouldn't be too happy if he caught wind of that"

"We weren't doing anything!" Emily exclaimed defiantly, "I just…I just didn't have anywhere to sleep, Kili was offering to help…"

"I bet you were, brother!" Fili shouted from the floor, still laughing at them.

"Fili, don't you start" his brother replied desperately. He turned to Emily, his cheeks pink, "Well, so do you still want to…um…"

"Yes, I mean, there is no other alternative, except sleeping out on the bridge!" she exclaimed, forcing a laugh. Kili laughed uncomfortably as well as they lay down on the bedroll.

Emily lay on her side facing away from Kili and attempted to fall asleep. Nonetheless, this objective proved difficult to complete due to the fact that the dwarves were still making a lot of noise, even though they were meant to be 'sleeping'. She felt Kili bring the blanket up to cover them both, which she accepted graciously. As she was finally about to fall asleep, the thought finally dawned on her that Poppy had not come back. "_How long can it take to fix a dress?" _She thought to herself, _"Oh, well I will worry about Poppy tomorrow". _And with that, she fell asleep.

Rivendell, despite its simple and elegant appearance, was actually a labyrinth, filled with twisting corridors, small courtyards and eerily polite elves. All of these things were noticed by Poppy aka Amavel as she wondered the elven town, searching for someone, _anyone,_ to fix her damn dress. The sun was setting, flooding the open air sidewalks with golden rays, however she was unable to enjoy the sight, for she hadn't heard or seen an elf in what seemed a decade. Up ahead, the path she was following split, separating as one lead back towards the mountains and the other headed to a small courtyard. The sound of an argument drifted out of said courtyard and as Poppy approached, she recognized the rotund figure of Balin silhouetted by the arched door way. As she neared the opening, she caught sight of Thorin standing just within the courtyard. Just beyond him was Elrond and next to him was standing Gandalf. Just as she arrived, the argument seemed to resolve itself, and Thorin, grudgingly, handed a small square of thick parchment over to the elven king.

"Erebor. What is your interest in this map?" inquired Elrond.

Thorin opened his mouth to speak, but was silence by Gandalf as the wizard babbled out some random excuse.

However the Elfish king was no longer listening, but was intently studying the map. A couple of moments passed before his perpetual frown deepened.

"The secrets of this map are not known to me. I cannot read these runes."

Poppy gaped. This was wrong. She knew, for a fact, that Elrond was meant to say "Moon runes", and then the small group would wonder off to the special and convenient moon rune viewing platform. However, it appeared that the fools need some subtle hints to get them thinking in the right direction.

" Cough.. cough Moon runes… cough" she muttered loudly. The dwarves jumped, as they obviously hadn't heard her approach.

"What?" asked Thorin abruptly, obviously irritated at the interruption.

"Nothing, I just have a slight cough. Cough… Cough… MOON RUNES… cough… cough."

"Be silent, you know nothing of these affairs." Said Thorin dismissively, turning away from her.

Over his shoulder, she stared at Elrond and silently mouthed, "Moon Runes."

"It is possible…" Elrond started, "That moon runes may be concealed on this map."

"What makes you think that?" muttered Thorin.

"It is best to make sure that all options are covered before we give up hope." Said Gandalf sagely, nodding wisely.

"Fine…" grumbled Thorin, "Lead the way."

After a long trip through the winding passages of Rivendell, and many a trip of the hem of the elvish gown, Elrond and co. followed by Poppy reached a large stone shelf which resided beside a great water fall, remnant of the river which flows through Rivendell. At its centre was an altar consisting entirely of a clear, glowing mineral. Elrond strode forward, robes swirling, and stopped by the dais and dramatically spread the map over its surface. With eerily perfect timing the clouds cleared, revealing a glowing crescent moon, as the sun had long since set. Gradually glowing white runes began appear, slowing taking shape on the parchments surface.

Unable to resist, Poppy, who had drawn close to the altar, let out a loud whoop. "HaaaHA"

* * *

**Sorry, this chapter was kind of long... It's just I didn't want to separate the events that happen in Rivendell, otherwise the moonrunes part would have been in the next chapter along with departing Rivendell...**

**Anyway, we hope you enjoyed :) PLEASE PLEASE review! It makes our day!**


	7. Chapter 6

Emily's eyes instantly fluttered open and she automatically drew the dagger from inside her dress, holding it out defensively in front of her. Kili, who had prodded her awake (quite hesitantly) sprang back in shock as the girl held the razor sharp dagger before his startled face. Kili stared at Emily in shock for a few more seconds before Em's mind finally began to function and she quickly lowered her sword, blushing.

"Shit, Kili, I am sorry." She said, fastening her dagger back inside her dress.

"No…that's, um…fine…" Kili stammered, "Thorin just told me to wake you up, we are leaving early"

"WHAT?!" Emily exclaimed, most definitely awakening any dwarves that were still asleep. "WHAT ABOUT BREKFAST?! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO FUNCTION?!"

Kili comfortingly put his hands on her shoulders as he attempted to calm down the distressed girl. The idea of no breakfast however, was too much for the distraught Emily to bear as she moaned, "Why do we have to leave Rivendell _now_?"

"I don't know." Kili said, his hands still placed firmly on her shoulders, "But I will make sure we get breakfast somehow, or at least Bombur will. You can trust me"

Emily looked up at him through her eyelashes and smiled. If it was up to her, she would have stared into his seamless brown eyes for the rest of the day, but Fili came up to them and sat himself down in between them, causing Kili to at last take his hands of Emily's shoulders. "How did you sleep, friends?" he asked, a mockingly mischievous look in his eyes.

Kili just frowned at his brother and endeavoured to reply as formally as possible considering the situation, "I slept very pleasantly, thank you very much. But Leiress kind of drooled on my coat…"

"I WHAT?!" Emily exclaimed, yet another blush erupting across her face. She did not recall drooling, and never has she recalled drooling in her entire life, what a time for it to happen!

"Oh my gosh, Kili, I am so sorry…" she said, her hurt pride evident in her shaken voice. "Why didn't you move?"

"It's alright! Fili drools on me all the time!" Kili said, "And you were kind of lying on my arm, you kind of grabbed it in the night"

Emily blushed even more ardently than before (if that is possible) and was about to reply when Kili interrupted her, "It doesn't matter, but we seriously have to leave now"

And with that, Emily got changed back into her armour (which was now dry) and she, Kili and Fili packed up their things and followed the rest of the dwarves out of Rivendell.

* * *

Once they had left the city of Rivendell, Poppy bounded up to Emily and grabbed her by the hair, causing Em to yelp in pain.

"Poppy!" she proclaimed, receiving strange looked from Fili and Kili, "I mean, _Amavel_, where were you last night? Where did you go?"

"Oh…you know, I was just aimlessly wondering the halls of Rivendell…" she replied, finishing her sentence with a graceful leap into the air.

"Stop jumping around!" Emily said as she grabbed her friend, "No time for ballet in middle earth!"

"But I miss my ballet soooooo much" the brunette replied sullenly, completing two 'posse pirouettes' before finishing in fifth position.

"What is this… valley you speak of?" Kili asked, obviously not hearing the word properly.

"It's _ballet, _a form of dancing. I used to do it alot back home" Poppy replied, once again bounding off into the distance

"AMAVEL, COME BACK HERE AND ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Emily shouted, causing the whole company to stare at her with questioning expressions. Poppy, it seemed, heard her as well, as she turned on her heels and walked back to Emily, Fili and Kili.

"Well, _Leiress, _if you really want to know I was just, you know, casually saving the quest from imminent disaster" she declared, attracting impressed looks from Fili and Kili but suspicious looks from Emily.

Emily grabbed her friend by the arm and led her away from the brothers, so that they might talk in private. When they were far enough away, Emily turned to her companion, "Seriously, tell me where you were!" she began, "You said you were going to get your stupid dress fixed but you never came back"

"Well…" Poppy sighed, now wearing her original clothes once again, "I bumped into Gandalf, Thorin and Balin talking about that map with Elrond, and I subtly hinted to them that Moon Runes were involved."

Poppy removed her arm from Emily's grasp and continued to walk down the steep hill which was approaching them. The girls cautiously crept their way down the hill, wary of the sharp stones and jagged rocks that bordered their path. When they reached the bottom of the hill, they looked up to the beautiful sight of the valleys and mountains in front of them. The two girls stood motionless, awestruck by the stunning sight of the mist capped mountains merging into the green valleys embossed with tall trees laden with rich green leaves.

"This world… it is beautiful" Poppy exclaimed, "So beautiful, that I cannot explain it, and I would not wish to offend it by attempting"

"Wow, Poop, that was deep and meaningful" Emily mocked, ruining the moment. Poppy tried to shove her but Em was a lot bigger than Poppy and just stood still on the spot, laughing at her friend's weakness.

As the two girls were jostling with each other, the rest of the company appeared to move on further down the path and Emily and Poppy had to sprint to catch up. When they finally caught up with Fili and Kili they tried to stop gracefully beside them but Em (having very large feet) tripped over her own feet and face-planted into the ground. Poppy, Fili and Kili erupted into fits of laughter as Em dragged herself off the ground with mud all over her un-amused face.

"Em- I mean Leiress, I think you have something on your face!" the brunette laughed

"Ha. Ha. No shit, Sherlock" her friend replied with an unpleased grimace

"How on earth did you manage to fall over?" Kili asked her, still laughing hysterically. Emily rolled her eyes and wiped her face as she stood up. But as she stood up, she slipped on smooth rock and fell flat on her face yet again, causing Poppy, Fili and Kili to laugh even harder than before. Nevertheless, Poppy managed to compose herself enough to be able to help her friend off the ground (just to make sure the blonde did not fall over again). Still giggling, they continued to follow the rest of the company down the path.

After walking for what seemed like hours, Poppy pulled her bow from her back and began to polish it, carefully wiping the smooth side of her glove up and down its surface. When she reached the bottom of the weapon however, she discovered a chip in the wood.

"Damn it!" she whispered to Emily, "Those bloody orcs or wargs or whatever have chipped my bow! I hope they find us again so I can give them of piece of my-"

Her threats were cut short by someone tapping her on the back. Expecting to see Fili or Kili, she whipped her head around to see Thorin standing behind her. Startled, she quickly placed her bow back on her back and raised her eyebrows at him. Thorin turned around to look at Balin for a brief moment before turning his piercing blue eyes to look at Poppy directly in the eye. For a fleeting second, Poppy recalled the moment she had first seen the dwarf king in a similar manner to this

"I would just like to say…" he began, causing the girl to jolt out of her thoughts, "Well, I would just like to say that, well, you were very helpful in deciphering the map…" He turned around to glance at Balin, who just raised his eyebrows and gestured at Thorin to keep on going. "Well, I… thank you" he finished, awkwardly patting Poppy on the shoulder before he stomped back over to Balin, a scowl on his face. Poppy was left standing on the edge of the path, absolutely stunned. Emily, who had seen the whole affair, came over to her friend and nudged her,

"What was THAT all about?" she questioned, glancing at Thorin as he talked angrily with Balin.

"I think… I think Thorin Oakenshield just said 'thank you'… but in a very condescending way" Poppy replied, gazing after him as well.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked before adding sarcastically, "You're not sick are you? YOU MUST BE SICK! SOMEONE! FETCH OIN! AMAVEL IS HAVING HALLUCINATIONS!"

"Shut up, Em!" Poppy hissed, "He only did it because Balin made him, it was so obvious"

"True" the blonde confirmed, "But Balin did not instruct him to awkwardly pat you on the shoulder! Or maybe he did…which would be kind of weird, them talking about your shoulder behind your back…"

"Em, you are rambling" Poppy laughed as she ran down the path, with Emily following close behind her.

Thus they continued to travel across the rugged landscape towards the Misty Mountains. Although the two young women would occasionally experience moments of foresight, they no longer experienced constant de-ja vu which had developed sight after they had met the dwarves.

After a solid day of walking over various landscapes which ranged from boulder strewn plains to snowy vertical slopes, and deep gorges, the company made an early camp by a large lake. The next leg of the journey, which they would commence the next day, would lead them into the Misty Mountains.

**Thank you for reading :) Next chapter will be up soon, PLEASE PLEASE review! **

**In the next chapter Poppy and Emily decided to go for a bath in the lake... but with a disastrous outcome... **


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey! In this chapter Poppy and Emily decide that after many tiring days of walking and hiking, they deserve a bath. Hope you like :)**

Poppy felt rancid. She hadn't showered, bathed or washed at all since they had left Rivendell nearly two weeks prior. The dwarves, who lacked any personal hygiene, smelt even worse than she, and consequently she was unable to stand in their presence for more than a half an hour at a time before passing out. Accordingly, she spent a large portion of her time away from the dwarves off on fictional hunting missions in an effort to avoid said dwarves and the odorous cloud which was rapidly developing around them. The sight of the pristine lake, glittering in the afternoon light gave her hope. As soon as a haphazard fire had been built and the bed rolls arranged accordingly, she slipped up behind Emily and muttered, "We have a chance… to get clean!"

Emily's eyes lit up in excitement, which was a first for her because generally she was not too keen on showers. "We must leave at once! But we can't let the dwarves see us, that would be…awkward…"

With that, the two girls attempted to sneak inconspicuously away to the lake. However, their stealth skills were not up to scratch and they swiftly spotted by none other than Bofur, who was preparing dinner.

"Where are you lasses off to then?" he shouted, causing the rest of the company to spin around and watch them with interest.

Thoroughly irritated by the dwarves' habit of asking stupid questions, Emily snapped angrily back, "We're off to have hot lesbian sex in the bushes! Care to join us? A threesome is always welcome!"

The look of absolute horror on Balin's face, incomprehension on Fili and Kili's faces and intent interest on Dwalin's made Poppy decide that it was time to intervene and salvage the situation. "No, as a matter of fact we are NOT" she shouted for all the dwarves to hear.

"But you said-" Dwalin began disappointedly

"Well we are not! Leiress is just…um…tired…" Poppy replied desperately, "We are actually off to have a bath in the lake"

"Ohhh a bath!" squealed Ori, "Can we come too?"

All the dwarves, suddenly interested by the prospect of bathing, looked to the two girls for their answer.

As Poppy was about to reply, Kili interrupted her, "No!" he cried, "Don't get them started!"

However, he was rapidly shushed by the rest of the company (except Gandalf and Thorin, who were holding a secret conference nearby).

Poppy rolled her eyes; did she really have to explain this again? "We are having a bath" she stated again, pausing waiting for comprehension to strike them. "In the water…" she continued, still with no avail. "NAKED!"

Dwalin pointed an accusing finger at the two, "You lied! You _are_ going to have-"

"NO!" Poppy interrupted, "Don't push me, Dwalin!"

Fili spoke up hastily, averting the possibility of violence ahead, "Why don't we bathe on one end of the lake, and you bathe on the other?"

"Fine." Emily said, speaking up for the first time, after her somewhat poorly thought out comment. "Amavel and I shall bathe on the east side, and you will bathe on the west"

Without further ado, she spun around and headed towards the lake, trailing Poppy behind her. "Well, that was awkward" Poppy stated, raising her eyebrows at her friend.

"Sorry" Emily mumbled, "It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say… good thing Thorin and Gandalf weren't there!"

They both laughed amicably as they headed down to the lake edge. Awkwardly, they faced away from each other and removed their grotty armour. They quickly slid into the water and waded out until only their heads could be seen.

"Ah to be clean again" Emily proclaimed, flicking her sodden hair out of her face. "Wait…what is that noise?"

The girls turned around to where a loud explosion of water had sounded, heralding the arrival of all twelve dwarves, except Thorin, who had attempted to maintain his dignity by stating that kings like himself did not need to bathe.

"Retreat! RETREAT!" Poppy screamed as she spun round in an attempt to flee back to the shore. However, it was to no avail. The lake's edge was swarming with a hideous collection of semi-dressed dwarves. Nevertheless, it became obvious that they would not be semi-dressed, or dressed at all, for much longer.

"To the reeds! To the reeds we must flee!" Emily screeched, gesturing wildly towards a thicket of water reeds nearby.

As fast as they could, they waded over to the reeds and concealed themselves among the tall strands. However, although they were out of sight, they were still able to view the beach and the water nearby with traumatising detail. The dwarves had promptly abandoned all clothing and were now frolicking freely in the water. But they did not have the girls' self-conscious attitude and had no desire to cover anything.

"Okay…" Emily began, gasping, "Fortunately, for the sake of our sanity, most of their…male anatomy is concealed below water level"

Poppy nodded in agreement, "I think we should slowly…edge back to the shore, but make sure we remain HIDDEN. Definitely, definitely hidden."

Poppy began to move out of the reeds, peering cautiously as she went. However, her friend seemed to be lingering behind.

"Em!" Poppy hissed, "HURRY UP!"

Emily turned to her friend and muttered slyly, "Why don't we stay a bit longer? I mean, Fili and Kili have just arrived…"

"EM, YOU PERV!" Poppy shouted at her estranged friend. She then clapped her hand to her mouth as she realised that while they could not be seen, they could most definitely be heard. The dwarves however, were preoccupied and did not hear her.

Showing a coincidental knack for poor timing, the girls had just cleared the reeds when Dwalin, completely naked, struggled to stand up right on a semi-submerged boulder. He puffed out his chest and proclaimed,

"I am Dwalin! King of the Rock!"

Poppy and Emily froze in horror. Despite their mature visage, they had not experienced horrors such as this before. Wargs and orcs were perfectly fine, but monstrosities such as these were too much for their courage to bear.

Screaming, they dropped all forms of stealth and made a full on dash for the shore.

"Oh Lord, MY EYES! THEY BLEED!" Emily screamed in terror

"Quickly! TO THE SHORE!" her companion shrieked as they approached the shallows.

Hastily they clambered out of the water and sprinted to where they had hidden their clothes, only to realise that they were no longer there.

"Grab anything!" Poppy shouted

"What though?!" Emily demanded hastily

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!"

Still running, they changed direction to where the dwarves had left their clothes without pausing. They scooped up a pair of clothes and bounded into the bushes.

Back at the lake, the dwarves still stood in the water in shocked silence. The silence was broken by a loud wolf whistle from Dwalin, who still held his position as 'King of the Rock'.

* * *

The two girls finally arrived back at the camp, only wearing the overdresses of the dwarves' armour. As they entered the grove, Emily practically barrelled into Gandalf, who stumbled over slightly before catching himself with his staff. He raised his grey eyebrows at them,

"And where have you two been?" he questioned, slightly suspiciously.

The girls were about to reply when Thorin barged in front of Gandalf, a furious look in his eyes which changed to confusion as he took in the girls rather under-dressed state. "What in Durin's name is going on?" he demanded, "We heard a scream; we thought orcs were attacking you!"

Emily was about to tell him about the whole affair in the lake when Poppy interrupted her, "Why would YOU care if orcs were attacking us?" she asked icily, flicking her still wet hair out of her face.

Thorin looked quite taken aback for a brief moment before he regained his demeaning gaze which thus bore into the brunette's eyes. "I do not wish to be patronized by such questions" he hissed back at her, turning back to Gandalf.

Emily grabbed hold of Poppy by the arm before she could say or do any more. She did not want to be kicked out of the company quite yet.

The tall girl turned to Gandalf, who appeared to be in the better mood. "Well, Gandalf…" she began, unsure of how to word the interesting tale, "Amavel and I were having a bath in the lake. We decided that we would bathe on the east side and the rest of the company on the west. Obviously someone didn't get the memo."

Gandalf nodded knowingly, although Em doubted that he knew what 'memo' meant.

"I'm guessing it was Oin" Poppy put in as it was obvious that hearing was not his strength

"Yeah…" Emily continued, "Well, then… well then the rest of the company came to OUR side of the lake, and we got a bit…um…embarrassed so we tried to get out of the water without anyone seeing us." She paused to take in breath, "But our master plan was flawed by Dwalin when he decided to expose himself on a nearby rock"

Gandalf chuckled merrily, clearly finding the tale quite amusing. Thorin however did not appear to be amused.

"I knew women would be a distraction" he grumbled before stomping off. This insult, however, was too much for Poppy to bear and she shouted out after him.

"Hey! WE were not distracting anybody, I think you would find! We were trying to hide from your 'men', who seemed all set to try to distract us as much as possible! Don't always assume that everything is OUR fault!"

Thorin stopped to listen to her and slightly turned his head to one side, before he wordlessly stormed out of the clearing.

Emily, it seemed, was stunned as to why Thorin had not said anything back to her friend. Maybe he realised that she was right. She was after all.

Gandalf smiled at the two girls as he lit up his pipe. "I think you two need to get some sleep" he chuckled and the two companions wandered over to their bedspreads, trying in vain to sleep with the still fresh images of that day's incident in their not-so-innocent-any more minds. 

* * *

**_PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU :)_**


	9. Chapter 8

On the next morning, having left the disastrous scene that was that of the lake, the company moved towards the Misty Mountains. They entered a narrow path that wound its way along the side of the mountain, allow space for only one person to walk the breath of the path. They proceeded in single file, with Poppy walking behind Bilbo and in front of Emily, who was preceding Kili and then Fili. Emily turned her head to the sky and stared up at the dark clouds that were beginning to form.

"It seems to me that it might rain soon" she stated, more to herself than to the rest of the company.

Poppy looked back at her friend and said, "Yes, and maybe we will see some stone giants as well!"

"Oh yes…" Emily mumbled as she remembered this fact. While Emily was not bothered by the prospect of moving mountains attacking them, Ori, who had heard the conversation, voiced his concerns,

"Stone giants?" he stammered with fear in his eyes, "A-are you sure?"

"Indeed" Emily indicated as Poppy helped her climb over a large boulder that blocked their path. "To the best of my knowledge…they should be arriving any time soon"

"Well, when it begins to rain" Poppy finished while heaving Emily over the boulder.

Once Emily was over the rock, she turned around to help Kili, who had got himself quite stuck. Emily laughed at him and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him free. To her annoyance, Emily realised that she could not quite manage to pull him over the boulder, which only made her more determined. She reached over and grabbed both his arms, the action proving difficult due to the fact that Kili was wriggling around on the boulder like some sort of startled grasshopper.

"Hold still!" the girl demanded as she yanked Kili by the arms, causing him to yelp.

"I'm trying!" Kili shouted desperately, "My foot is stuck! And Fili refuses to help!"

Emily turned her gaze away from the struggling dwarf to his brother, who stood behind him laughing. She amusedly rolled her eyes and yanked Kili one last time, though a lot harder than the attempts before.

Kili fell forward over the boulder and subsequently crashed into Emily. The two landed on the floor with a thump with Kili and all his weapons falling on top of the winded girl. Kili opened his eyes and awkwardly stared down at the young woman underneath him for a fleeting moment, his dark hair brushing onto her pale face which was outlined by her golden hair splaying out on the ground beneath them. Nevertheless, Fili erupted in a not-so-inconspicuous wolf whistle which made Kili jump off her in embarrassment.

The young dwarf grinned and held out his hand to Em, who took hold of it gratefully as she was pulled off the floor. The stood still for a moment, unaware they were still holding hands until Fili gave an impatient cough from behind them. Emily rapidly pulled her hand away, turned around swiftly and cautiously ran after Poppy.

"Don't you dare even think about it, Emily" she muttered to herself, "Don't even go there! If it ever got out you would be torn to shreds by a horde of fan girls."

* * *

The slightly bedraggled company continued to make their way along the side of the mountain. The glowing sun was gradually setting and soon the landscape was enveloped in darkness. In the distance, a roar of thunder sounded in the tumultuous sky and a bolt of pure white lightning shot across the clouds. The tall young woman situated in the middle of the company felt the first drop of rain fall onto her nose.

"And so it begins" she said, half eerily, half sarcastically.

Her smaller companion walking in front of her whipped her head around. "So what begins?" she questioned before she felt a drop of rain fall onto her face in turn. "Oh, right"

The two girls looked at each other knowingly, for they knew what events were to come. Another bolt of lightning cascaded across the sky and thunder rumbled eerily in the heavens. Then the rain began to pour. Poppy and Emily had to strain their eyes against the constant battering they were receiving from the wind and rain. They continued to walk in the rain, trying to ignore the sheer drop down the cliff that was one simple fall away.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin shouted from the front of the company, just as drenched as everyone else.

"Yeah, no shit!" Emily intended to shout back at him, but to no avail. The roar of the storm was so loud that only Poppy heard her sarcastic mutterings.

As Poppy was about to reply something no doubt witty to her friend, Ori turned around to face the pair, shivering. "W-what if those stone giants come?" he stammered, ignoring the look of confusion of the girls' faces. "You said that when it rained the giants would come!"

Poppy and Emily could tell from his voice that he was very troubled indeed. Nevertheless, they made no attempt to comfort him, only increasing his fear with their subdued responses.

"Oh, yes" Emily replied, a slight spark in her green eyes, "I do not doubt that they will come soon. Yes, the terrible STONE GIANTS! They like to battle in storms… and are very, very dangerous!"

"Do not talk of things you do not understand" Thorin growled from in front of Ori and the girls, obviously eavesdropping on their conversation. "They are nothing but legends. Do not listen to them"

As he turned away from them, Poppy whispered to her companion, "He is just angry because he didn't win our little _discussion _back at the lake"

Emily nodded her blonde head in agreement. Suddenly, they heard the now disturbingly familiar voice of Dwalin echoing from behind Thorin. "Watch out!" he cried as the dwarves, hobbit and two girls looked up to see a massive boulder hurtling through the air. It hit the mountain above them with tremendous speed, causing rocks to fall all around them as they pressed themselves against the rocky wall. As the rocks were tumbling around them, Emily lost her footing and slipped. She had enough time to let out a small scream before Kili grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up next to him. She held on to him tightly, she did not want to fall again.

Balin's voice was heard above the commotion, "This is no thunderstorm!" he bellowed, "It's a thunder battle! Look!"

He indicated to where a large, rocky figure was rising from a nearby mountain. It ripped a massive boulder off the top of the mountain and hurled it at the mountain where the company was stranded.

"Well, bless me!" Bofur exclaimed, in unnatural composure, "The legends are true! Giants! Stone giants!"

"HA!" Emily shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Thorin, who did not see her gesture due to the fact that Poppy grabbed her arm before her friend could start another argument with the already infuriated dwarf king.

"Take cover; you'll fall!" Thorin shouted over the din of the rocks collapsing around them.

Suddenly, the narrow pathway beneath the company's feet began to crumble. Emily's eyes lit up in alarm. The rock beneath her was disintegrating. In the brief moment of panic that ensued as the path was disappearing, Emily had fallen behind Kili, and had to be grabbed by Fili as she (once again) almost fell into the abyss. She stood behind Fili, absolutely flustered, and looked over at her friend who was standing two people away from her. Poppy also had a look of panic in her eyes and appeared to shout out something, which was muffled by Kili's shocked exclamations.

"What's happening?!"

A large crack in the pathway began to form between the two brothers. They backed away from the snake-like crack, their clothes sodden from the ever-prevalent rain and their determined faces masking fear.

"Kili! Grab my hand!" Fili shouted, to no avail. It was too late. The rock had already separated and the side with Kili and Poppy was beginning to drift away in the chaos. Poppy looked at the expression of fear on the dark haired dwarf's face as he was pulled away from his brother. He grabbed her hand and held it tight, and she was all too happy to have someone to cling on to.

Over the roar of the rain Poppy managed to shout a few words over to the now disappearing people on the other side of the rock. "Em!" she shouted as something above them began to move. Then the terrifying fact dawned on her. They were stranded on the rocky 'legs' of another stone giant.

The giant they were aground on began to very slowly battle with the other one, the lighting, rain and thunder blazing overhead.

"Em!" Poppy shouted out again into the blackness, she did not want to lose her best friend. For it seemed they had been through everything together. Poppy felt panic well up inside of her when she didn't hear her friend reply. She was about to tell Kili when she heard Emily's startled voice shout over the noise.

"Kili!"

Poppy doubled up in shock. _Excuse me? _She thought to herself, _We are about to die and you are thinking about Kili?! _

Hurt and offended feelings aside, Poppy composed herself as their side of the stone giant hit a piece of solid rock. They quickly jumped from the knee and onto the mountain again. Now on un-moving ground, the dwarves sheathed their weapons.

"You fools!" Poppy cried, "Weapons aren't going to help!"

However, her insults were silenced at many rocks came tumbling down the side of the mountain from what had once been a stone giant's enormous head. She whipped her head around just in time to see the other knee of the stone giant, with the remainder of the company, slam into the side of the mountain.

"No!" Thorin cried as the seemingly dead stone giant fell into the abyss. "No, Kili!"

"Wait, Kili is with me. Isn't Fili the one you should be shouting for?" Poppy exclaimed, more to herself than to Thorin, who was already running over to where the rest of the dwarves (and Emily) had last been seen.

As they rushed round the corner to where the others had ostensibly been squashed, they heard Balin yell, "We're all right! We're alive!"

Poppy ran to the front next to Thorin, who seemed to let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief. For the first time since she had joined the quest, Poppy imperceptibly smiled at him. It appeared that he did care after all, even if he did not make it evident.

From where Emily was sitting on the floor, she bolted up and ran up to Poppy, enveloping her in a tight hug (which was very strange, due to the fact that Emily had never hugged anyone in her life, and probably never would again.)

Nonetheless, to Emily's shock, Poppy did not hug her back.

"Poop?" she questioned, "What's wrong? I AM HUGGING YOU!"

Poppy ignored her friend's now very highly raised eyebrows and crossed her arms defiantly.

"Pooooooops, what is WRONG?!" the blonde persisted.

But before Poppy could reply or Emily could interrogate further, Bofur's startled voice rose above the murmurings.

"Where's Bilbo?" he cried, "Where's the hobbit?"

* * *

**Talk about ending on a cliffhanger... get it? CLIFF HANGER! Please review :)**


	10. Chapter 9

**I wanted to put more in this chapter...but oh well, next time :P Please review :)**

They all ambled over to where Bilbo was clinging onto the edge of the rocky cliff, fear, panic and alarm very clearly evident in his frightened eyes. Poppy and Emily went forward to help but Ori and Bofur reached the struggling hobbit first. However, instead of helping him, the incompetent dwarves only made him slip and fall further down the cliff face.

"Holy crap!" Emily shouted, "What do we do?!"

As the dwarves tried to pull him up unsuccessfully, Thorin swung down to where Bilbo was hanging onto the cliff in one swift movement. He grabbed the terrified hobbit and pulled him up to where the other dwarves dragged him to safety.

"Phew, I'm glad _that's_ over" Emily mused.

However, to Emily's shock, it was not over. From where he was hanging onto the cliff, Thorin suddenly slipped. Luckily, Dwalin grasped him and dragged him up onto the cliff with all his strength, while (to Poppy and Emily's surprise) the other dwarves did not help in any way.

"I thought we had lost our burglar!" Dwalin exclaimed, his words being muffled by the rain. Bilbo looked up at him, still shaking, and Poppy and Emily attempted to smile at the startled hobbit in comfort.

As the girls were smiling manically at Bilbo, Thorin's deep voice bellowed through the rain.

"He has been lost ever since he left home" he stated coldly. "He should never have come. He has no place amongst us."

Em saw the hurt that Thorin's words ensued on Bilbo's face as the poor hobbit looked ashamedly down at the floor. Thorin called to Dwalin and the company began to disappear into a cave in the rock.

Poppy, on the other hand, was glaring at the dwarf icily. It seemed that all these weeks of his constant insults, prejudices and just general rudeness had finally culminated.

When they had all entered the cave, Poppy broke away from Emily before her friend could stop her and stormed up to Thorin.

"Search the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied" he muttered to Dwalin before he turned around to see Poppy standing in front of him, anger blazing in her eyes.

In the background, Emily watched on in fear. More fear for Thorin than for her friend.

"What's going on?" Kili asked as he came to sit down next to her.

"Your uncle is about to get in a lot of trouble" the blonde stated, "I don't think I have ever seen Amavel so angry before"

"Really?" Kili said, surprised, "Amavel looks to dainty and fragile to get angry with anyone"

Emily laughed a bit too loudly, "You have no idea!"

Poppy glared up at the dwarf king, who subsequently glared back at her with an air of scorn.

"Thorin" she began, attempting to subdue her anger for a few extra seconds, "Could I please have a brief word with you?"

Thorin proceeded to scowl at her, "As you can see, I am busy and have no time for your foolish questions"

He then turned around to face Dwalin, only for Poppy to grab him by the arm.

"Fine." She stated calmly, "If you wish for me to say this in front of the whole company that is your own fault"

By now, everyone was listening. Thorin seemed to realise that whatever this girl had to say, he did not want the rest of the company to hear it, lest it was insulting towards him.

"Fine" he muttered, "We will go to the back of the cave"

* * *

"Do you honestly have no sense of remorse?" Poppy began, gesturing wildly with her bow. "Did you see the look on Bilbo's face? It wasn't HIS fault he almost tumbled into the bloody abyss! It could have just as easily been you!"

"No" Thorin growled back at her, "It couldn't have"

"Oh really? Well what if it had been Fili, or Kili or Dwalin? Would you have shouted at them?"

"No. They would never have been stupid enough to be that close to the edge. Like I said before, the Halfling should never have come"

Poppy could feel weeks' worth of anger building up inside of her. She was sure that the rest of the company could hear their now quite rowdy 'discussion'.

"Do you not see how arrogant you sound?!" she exclaimed, "Bilbo is risking his life to help you in your quest!"

Thorin crossed his arms and glared down at her icily. "I never asked for him to. Nor did I ask for him to come! I should never have listened to Gandalf. Letting the Halfling come was a mistake, as was bringing you"

Back in the middle of the cave, Bilbo was looking down at the floor awkwardly and Emily was attempting to make conversation with the rest of the dwarves. Nevertheless, they seemed more interested in hearing their leader being told off.

"That's not the point" Poppy shouted at him, exasperated by his ignorance, "He gave up everything to help you on YOUR quest. A quest which you could not do without him. He is just as much a part of this company as you are"

"No he is not. This is MY quest and I am its leader!"

"Well, I can tell you this, every leader needs someone to help them, and you are not an exception!"

"I do not recall asking for your opinion"

"Well maybe you should, Thorin. I mean, do you seriously think you can do this quest alone?! How are you expecting to fight a freaking dragon without help?"

There was silence for a moment before Thorin replied, "I suspect that we will never reach the Lonely Mountain. With the hobbit and you and your friend slowing us down"

"Fine then!" Poppy snapped, "Tomorrow morning Emily and I will leave. Would that make you happy?"

And with that, Poppy gave him one more furious glare before storming off back to her friend. The whole company stared at her in awe, it was obvious that not many people had ever dared to question the great Thorin Oakenshield.

"Poppy…" Emily began , whispering to her friend.

"I don't really want to talk right now." She said coldly, before she lay down on her bedroll (which Emily had prepared for her) and pretended to be asleep. She did not see Thorin walking back.

* * *

MEANWHILE

While Poppy was busy shouting at Thorin, Emily was staring forlornly at the dark cave wall. Seeing all the dwarves together, as a rather dysfunctional family, she thought she felt tears well up in her eyes. For the first time since she had joined the company, Emily began to feel like she missed her home. Not the abysmal bunker in the ground, but her really home, hidden in the English countryside. She lifted her hand to her eyes and tried to discreetly wipe away the tears that had begun to fall down her pallid face. The blonde had never really cried in her life before, as she had always seen it as weak and ridiculously damsel-like behaviour. She continued to blink away her tears, in an attempt to reduce the horribly burning in her throat. For she did not want the company to think her as a weak pathetic female, to be protected. That misogynous idiot Thorin already did.

Emily sniffed very loudly, and gave a startled yelp as someone touched her shoulder. She whipped her head around, trying to hide her tear stained face behind her hair, only to see Kili staring back at her, concern evident in his eyes.

"Leiress?" he asked softly, crouching down in front of her. "Are you…crying?"

Emily's cheeks blushed in embarrassment and she hastily wiped her damp face.

"Of course not!" she defended in a choked voice

Kili gently cupped her chin in his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye. . His eyes studied her face, obviously at a loss. He could tell that she had been crying, it was obvious to anyone. He felt a sadness in his heart as he looked into her glittering eyes. He _wanted_ to make her happy again; he wanted to see her beautiful, if slightly awkward, smile, but he just did not know _how. _Kili had little experience with anything female beyond his mother.

Kili slowing exhaled and looked into her stormy grey eyes, which still brimmed with tears, barely supressed by her strong will. "Leiress…" he began uneasily. He really was terrible with words. "Please tell me what is wrong. Maybe I can help"

Emily stared back into his bottomless brown eyes, and for a moment, she was speechless, heralding an awkward silence that ensued Kili's question.

The young girl realised that she had to reply. Nonetheless, she had never really been one to share emotion with anyone, except maybe Poppy.

Emily felt her eyes well up with fresh tears as she thought of her friend. She pinched the skin of her palm between two nails in an attempt to stem them, and regain self control.

"Not even Poppy cares! She's angry with me for some stupid reason!" Emily clapped her hand over her mouth as she realised that she had voiced that complaint out loud.

"Who is angry with you?" Kili asked, for he thought Poppy was called Amavel.

"Amavel I mean… she is angry with me and I don't know why! And I need to talk to her because I am really missing home, and I just don't know what to do!"

More tears spilled down Emily's cheeks and Kili felt as if his heart would explode. He took her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes.

"I feel homesick too… I miss my mother and my home. And Fili can neglect me sometimes… but we just have to be strong. You are an amazing person, Leiress, Please, please don't cry"

"I'm sorry…" Emily sniffed; she was now beginning to feel incredibly embarrassed. "I don't think I have ever cried in front of anyone before. It's ridiculous. What it the point of crying anyway. It doesn't aid survival. It is stupid and weak and despicable. "

Kili smiled at the worry this ensued on her face. "It's fine to cry sometimes… everyone does. Probably even uncle!"

Emily laughed at the thought of Thorin crying. She was sure that it would be a miraculous sight indeed.

"Okay… thank you…" Emily whispered as looked away from his face to stare fixedly at the rocky wall behind him. However, she began to panic as the young dwarf began to lean in closer to her. At that very moment, as the fighting at the opposite end of the cave reached a climatic end, with both combatants storming away from each other. Thankful of the excuse to avoid any physical contact she muttered some rather rabbled excuses and scuttled away. Leaving Kili staring rather bewilderedly into thin, rather musty, air. Very little experience with women indeed.

* * *

**Yes, well that was a rather interesting chapter... I wanted to upload a bit more because what happens next ties in with this chapter, but then it would have been too long... So tell me, are these chapters good lengths? Because I was unsure whether to add more... THANK YOU AND PLEASE REVIEW :D ~DarkBrooks**


	11. Chapter 10

**This chapter carries on from the last chapter :) Well, I guess all chapters do...**

Poppy did not really know how long she lay there, but her 'sleeping' was interrupted by Emily, who was prodding her arm.

"Poppy, wake up!" she hissed, "Bombur's got some food ready!"

Poppy sat up. "I wasn't asleep in the first place, you fool"

Her friend recoiled, shocked by her friend's harsh tone. "What's gotten into YOU?!"

"What gotten into me?!" She said sarcastically, "What's gotten into you is the question!"

"What are you talking about?"

"On the mountain!" Poppy rolled her eyes, "I called out for you when we were about to DIE! But all you did was shout out Kili's name! NOT MINE!"

The brunette just rolled her eyes angrily and sprang up, completing her graceful leap with a grande jete.

"POPPY!" Emily shouted, "STOP PRANCING AROUND LIKE A F*CKING BALLERINA AND STOP BEING ANGRY WITH MEEEE!"

Emily went up to her friend and grabbed her hardly by the wrists. As soon as she grabbed her however, Poppy emitted a shocked hiss of pain.

"Ow!" she screamed, "What are you doing?"

"Whaaaaaa?" her friend slurred, "I just grabbed you! What the hell is wrong with your- HOLY SHIT!"

Mid-sentence, Emily pulled off Poppy's archer's gloves to look at her forearm. A deep gash, glistening with scarlett red blood ran from her skinny wrist to her elbow. Emily looked at the wound in shock.

"How the hell…?" she stammered, looking at Poppy for an answer. Her friend however, seemed to know no more about this abhorrent wound than she did.

Poppy started at the gash cutting through her pale forearm. "Yeow, that is going to leave a scar or two" she said, trying to lighten the situation. "It must have been from the rocks…"

Emily grabbed her arm again and her friend winced in pain. "You need someone to look at this, it's really deep" she stated, a look of anxiety in her eyes.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Poppy exclaimed, "Where the hell is Oin when you need him?!"

Emily laughed in agreement. "I think they have gone to find firewood. I will see if I can find them. You wait here" She turned to Fili and Kili, who were sitting nearby. "You two…" she gestured, "Make sure Amavel doesn't do anything else stupid… like anymore ballet jumps or whatever they are called"

"Grande jetes, Emling, grande jetes!" Poppy retorted, holding her now terribly painful arm in her hand.

As she held her arm, more blood began to seem through the wound. Poppy prodded it, and let out a wince of pain. She knew that she had to clean it somehow and get rid of the blood. Carefully, she held the sleeve of her shirt in her other hand and started to wipe her cut. She had to bite her lip to stop herself screaming. She was about to dare to wipe it again when she saw someone kneel in front of her. She looked up to see Thorin kneeling before her and looking down at her injured arm.

"Here" he said quietly, "Let me look at that"

Poppy hesitantly took her hand off her arm and pulled off the rest of the glove, showing her deep wound.

Thorin took her arm in his hands and look down on it, his face occupied with deep concentration.

"Your cut is deep" he stated, his eyes never leaving her arm. "You need something to stop the blood"

He ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt and tied it around her arm. "Just until Oin gets back…" his words drifted off as he stared up at her. Once again, piercing ice blue eyes met quixotic blue-grey eyes and for a fleeting moment, all previous arguments were forgotten. Only an inconspicuous cough from a nearby Oin stifled them out of their daydreams.

"I'm here now!" Oin proclaimed, elbowing Thorin out of the way. "You can let go of her arm now, Thorin!"

Thorin instantly whipped his hand away and stood up. From where she was sitting on the floor, Poppy looked up at him.

"Thank you" she said, before turning back to Oin.

Thorin stormed off, seeming to regain his previous demeaning gaze before he stomped over to Dwalin, while Oin began to inspect Poppy's now not so painful wound.

"I'm not sure any OINNtment will be of any use right now", stated Emily in an abysmal attempt at a joke to lighten the slightly awkward situation. As always, she had no idea what she had waltzed into.

As the storm raged outside, and Bombur snored inside, Poppy and Emily attempted to sleep, but in vain. Poppy was restless due to the pain in her newly bound arm and Emily was still fuming over what she thought to be Poppy's somewhat unjust accusations. Even after the storm had diminished, the two still remained awake. After a while Emily whispered in an overly loud voice,

"Poppy! Are you awake?"

"Nooooo! I am not" her friend replied grouchily, facing towards the cave wall

"Oh, for Durin's sake! Grow up!"

"What did you say?" Poppy turned to look at her friend in astonishment

"I said 'grow up'"

"Noooo! Before that!"

"For…for… god's sake?"

"No! You said for DURIN'S sake!"

Gloin's aggravated voice rose above the snores, "For Durin's sake, SHUT UP!"

"We're not all nocturnal!" Dori's voice echoed in an unusual sound of anger.

"Sorrrrrrrrry" Emily whispered. She then turned to Poppy, "Did I really say that?"

"Yep"

"I AM TURNING INTO A DWARF!"

"SHUT THE F*CK UP!" someone shouted from the back of the cave.

"Good job, Em" Poppy muttered sarcastically, "You have successfully passed on your foul language to an innocent dwarf. Poor Kili…"

Her humorous tones changed and she frowned. She turned to Emily, a knowing look in her eyes.

"I get this feeling that something is about to happen"

Emily's eyes lit up in understanding. "Yeah… something to do with the floor…"

The two girls, no matter how hard they tried, could not quite remember what was beginning to form in the back of their minds.

Suddenly, as if someone could read their thoughts, they heard Bofur ask from the front of the cave, "What's that?"

The floor in-between Poppy and Emily began to split.

"Oh crap!" Emily howled as she began to slip towards the deepening hole in the floor.

"Don't you mean, oh CRACK!" cackled Poppy, as she began to slip downwards.

"This is not the time for bad jokes!" Emily yelped like a startled tadpole as she began to fall down the newly revealed hole in the ground of the cave.

Cries came from the dwarves as they too were broken from there peaceful slumber and pulled into a newly formed addition to the cave's interior design.

"Poppy!" Emily cried, twisting round to try and see her friend as she tumbled through the rocky tunnels

"Kili!" Poppy shouted sarcastically, "See how it feels, Em!"

As Kili skidded past, going head first down the tunnel, he shouted, "What has this got to do with me?!"

The entire company of dwarves slid and skidded down the rough and rocky interior of the tunnel as it dug its way deeper to the heart of the mountain.

Suddenly, the stony walls ended and the company plummeted through a 50m of empty space before landing with a series of thuds and muttered curses on a conveniently placed open-topped cage.

Em landed on her back, and Kili promptly landed on top of her.

"Well…" she began slyly, "This didn't turn out as bad as I thought…"

"Em-" a voice gasped from beneath Bombur's great girth. "C-can't breathe! Help! ME!"

"P-Poppy?" Emily stammered, still being not so unpleasantly squashed by Kili.

Bombur began to roll around, but to no avail. His wide spherical body prevented him from gaining his feet.

As Poppy was about to suffocate beneath rolls of dwarf fat, a small, scrawny goblin rolled Bomubr off of her.

"Thank you, my saviour!" she proclaimed, attracting a confused look from said goblin.

It squwbled (squawked and warbled) then roughly grabbed her by the back of her neck.

"Ouch! MY HAIR! Get off me, you fell beast!" She began to attack him with what little strength she had in her puny arms.

"Hey!" Emily shrieked as the two goblins picked her up, one by the arms and one by her legs. "Let go of me, you grublets!"

Em's long limbs began to flail wildly and the goblins struggled to hold her down. She kicked even more ardently and one of her very large feet came in contact with a startled goblin's hideous face.

The goblin squawked in defiance, heralding the arrival of more goblins to transport the struggling girl. While Emily had about ten goblins dragging her down the narrow and rickety pathway, Poppy was being carried on the back of a very small goblin, unable to do anything.

"Help me, Em! The goblin has me!" Poppy screamed in her friend's direction.

Emily, who was gradually disappearing under a sea of goblins, shrieked back, "I am a little preoccupied at the moment, I think you would find! OUCH GET OFF ME!"

They proceeded to kick and thrash around but to no avail. The goblins eventually dragged the struggling company to the heart of the mountain, finally dumping them in front of a large 'throne'.

Emily was slammed into the ground face-first by the approximately twenty goblins that were carrying her. She slowly lifted her head up, her eyes spinning. Soon, not now but soon, she would settle the score with those arrogant little goblins. How dare they push her around?

As soon as she lifted her head, she wished she had not. The goblin horde had brought them through a vast network of tunnels to the wooden 'throne' and platform of the Great Goblin. As he descended towards the company (squashing some smaller goblins in the process) Emily realised that he was even more hideous than she had imagined, his ginormous, ugly head sporting many rather un-fetching warts and garnished with a beautiful swinging chin.

Emily and Poppy were both dragged to their feet as the Great Goblin approached them.

**Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I had an English essay today on Macbeth and I am in english extension so I had to revise soooo much! I also had loads of latin tests so I humbly apologise!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Another chapter! We are about to start our holidays now which means more time for writing, but Em will be in the UK which means it will be veryyy difficult to communicate. Anywho... **

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Thieves? Spies? Assassins?" He questioned, his chin swaying wildly in front of Emily's nose.

"Dwarves, your Malevolence" the goblin who had carried Poppy said "We found them on the front porch!"

Emily laughed, "Front porch? Wow you guys suck at interior design"

"Search them! Every crack! Every crevice!" the Great Goblin screamed

The goblins began to grab various body parts of the dwarves. This development was received with various levels of disgust by the dwarves. Emily in particular, who had never warmed to being touched in the first place. Poppy was nearly crushed beneath a riding mass of goblins.

"GET OFF ME, YOU FOUL MAGGOTS!"

"Silence!" the Great Goblin commanded, turning his quivering jowls to face the girls.

"And who might you be?" he asked as they shrank away from his rancid breath.

Poppy and Emily recoiled as his dangling chin swung closer to them. Suddenly, a disturbing yet funny memory echoed in Emily's mind. She looked at Poppy, she seemed to have remembered to. They both shouted in enthused unison,

"SCROTUM BEARD!"

"What?!" the Great Goblin stating, confused at their expression. The dwarves as well seemed baffled at their outburst.

"What fraudulence is this?" the hideous Goblin demanded. "SEIZE THEM!"

Poppy and Emily were seized by more hideous goblins, who proceeded to tie them to a nearby pole.

"You won't get away with this, you little shits!" Emily shouted at them as her hands were bound above her head.

"Shut UP, Em! If you hadn't been so annoying in the first place then maybe we wouldn't have been tied to this freaking pole" Poppy replied grouchily, still angry with her friend

"Are you seriously still angry at me because I called Kili's name instead of-"

Emily's sentence was cut short by the Great Goblin leering in front of them with his many quaking jowls.

"Who are you? And where do you two come from then?" he snorted, causing Emily and Poppy to shrink back in disgust.

"Why should we tell you, you ugly bastard?!" Emily yelled

"Do not insult me, little girl. Answer my question!"

"NO!"

Emily seemed all set to tell the not-so-Great Goblin nothing, when she saw Kili's face among the crowd of rather confused looking dwarves. He nodded at her, thus encouraging her that to tell this brute of a goblin might be the best option.

"Fine" Emily began, receiving startled looks from Poppy. "My name is Leiress and this is Amavel" she said gesturing to her friend. "We come from…err…. London"

The Great Goblin appeared to be confused. "London? Where is that?"

"Oh, you wouldn't know" Poppy interrupted, "It's in England, the United Kingdom"

"What?!" the Great Golbin exclaimed, quite thoroughly startled. He had never head of these strange places in his life before.

"You heard her, you fool" Emily mocked, rolling her eyes.

The Great Goblin, it appeared, was not amused by Emily's constant insults and his lack of knowledge of the girls' origins.

"Fine!" he bellowed, "If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker! Start with the youngest!" he pointed a disgusting, long finger at Ori, who almost fainted on the spot.

"Don't do anything stupid" Poppy pleaded under her breath, praying with all her might that the oh-so –noble dwarves would do something… noble. Which would get them all killed.

"Wait!" cried Thorin, pushing his way through the crowd of goblins.

"Something like that", sighed Poppy, thumping her head back against the wooden pole and a goblin which was stupidly in the way. Curses on dwarves… and their heroic attitudes.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain", sneered the quivering pile of blubber perched on the goblin throne. "**"**Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really."

"How dare you, you...you... TURNIP!" stuttered Poppy, reluctant to swear as openly as Emily but angry for the hideous goblin king offending Thorin.

The goblin kings next words were less welcome. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached." He jabbered, "Perhaps you know of whom I speak, an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a white warg"

Thorin, who had recently taken up staring at his fascinating right boot, glanced up, disbelief written across his face.

"Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago." He whispered through gritted teeth.

"If he was dead, then he wouldn't be after your head!" sighed Emily, "Really, that is obvious enough."

She was universally ignored by the band of dwarves who were dwarfed by crowds of goblins.

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The goblin king chuckled, his warty scrotum beard wobbling, he turned to a tiny goblin sitting in a basket by the throne, suspended over the cavernous drop. His chin reacted at a slower rate, swinging sickeningly as his head turned.

"Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize."

The micro-goblin scribbled away on his slate and pulled a small trigger, spinning off into the darkness on a network of cables, cackling maniacally.

Swivelling back, the throne groaning under his great weight, the goblin king waved his skull-topped sceptre around and began to sing a ridiculously out of tune song.

"Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin-town."

Recognising the song, the girls joined in on the last words of the song. "DOWN IN THE DEEP OF GOBLIN TOWN!"

The Great Goblin recoiled in shock.

"How do you know of our sacred chant?"

Ori, a bumbling fool, seized this chance to interrupt and ruin absolutely everything. It was evident that being threatened with imminent torture had addled his rather undeveloped brain.

"Of course they do! You Tower of Lard! They can see into the future!"

Thorin nudged Ori roughly with the tip of his sword, "Ori, be quiet!"

However, the Goblin King had heard enough.

"They can see into the future, can they? Well they must have forseen this!"

Having said this, he swung around and knocked the two wooden poles, to which the girls were tied, over the edge of promontory and into the gaping abyss below.

"HOLY F*CK!" swore Emily as the pole began to topple.

Using a rare display of expletive knowledge, Poppy howled. "Ori, you absolute WANK-STAIN! I WILL KICK YOU SORRY ASS FOR THIS!"

Ori, although he was safely standing on the solid ground, appeared more frightened than the two girls who were rapidly plummeting to their supposed deaths.

As the pole began to tumble, Emily squawked, "KILI! NO! DON'T FORGET MEEEEE!"

"NOT AGAIN!" Poppy shouted in despair.

The chasm above them began to narrow and they realised that they were falling very far, very fast. Then, all of a sudden, they were not falling at all. A random outcrop of rock had halted their downwards dive, thus saving them in the nick of time.

However, the tumble was too much for the ropes holding Poppy to the bottom of the pole to bear. She began to cascade downwards, only to grab onto Emily's hair just in time.

"YEOOWWWW!" Emily screamed. "Get off my luscious locks!"

"It's your stupid hair or my life, you cretin" her friend replied. With great effort, she managed to swing herself up and grab onto the lodge pole, causing Emily to emit many high pitched yelps of pain.

She swung her leg over a sat astride the pole. Just as she had guessed, they were lodged in the middle of a hole. A big, big hole.

"Em, what the hell do we do?!" Poppy questioned anxiously

"Well, for a start, you could help me escape these robes, you noodle face. I am staring down into the freaking abyss!"

"Okay, okay"

And with that, the time consuming procedure of pulling Em to the top of the pole began.

Poppy leapt from her pole to her friends, balancing lightly. Then, crouching, she pulled a tiny dagger from a convenient pocket in her boot, and hacked away at the bindings with gusto. After a time, the first of the three ropes was cut, and Emily managed the wrap her lanky legs around the pole, ensure that she would not continue to fall after all the ropes were cut. The second rope, holding her arms, as taken care of in due course, and the final binding, around her waist, was sliced. With surprising agility, Emily swung around and hauled herself on to the pole. Then in an expected display of clumsiness, she nearly fell off again.

"Em, you blithering fool" muttered Poppy fondly.

At last, both of the girls were sitting mildly stably atop the pole.

"Now, to actually get somewhere" Emily murmured in a shocking deep voice.

"Indeed. We could go left…or right…or up…or down!" stated Poppy

"Hmmm yes, personally I prefer down"

"Thanks for the sarcasm. Really appropriate!"

"LIKE YOUR FACE!"

"LIKE KILI'S FACE!"

"Don't bring Kili into this!"

"Well you seem to always do! If I am not mistaken, you were SLEEPTALKING and muttering his name when we were in the cave!"

"I WAS NOT!"

"You were! Fili and I were listening to you! You were moaning his name and thrashing around"

"You're lying. You snitch!"

Poppy was about to reply with a appropriately scathing response, when she was interrupted by a soundless explosion which occurred on the plato above. The shock waves echoed down the chasm, causing the poles they were lying on to shake alarmingly.

"Move, Em! The pole will break under your great weight!"

And consequently, it did. But not because of Em's great weight (which could mostly be found in her alarming large feet). The pole collapsed due to a tumbling mountain of lard which toppled towards them. This mountain of lard, also known as the Goblin King, came crashing into their small strip of refuge from the space above them.

The Goblin King, Emily and Poppy began a disturbingly rapid descent down the caverns which riddled the mountain.

"To think" Poppy shouted as they toppled downwards, "That after all we have been through, we are going to DIE, alone, tumbling down this mundane mountain"

Emily attempted to nod in consent, "I didn't even get to say goodbye to Kili!"

Poppy was about to shout back something offensive when they came in contact with the ground.

**Thank you for reading! Favourite, follow and review! It truly makes my day after hours of Latin translations and English essays :)**


	13. Chapter 12

**Sorrrrry it's been so long. We've been on holiday which meant no laptop :'( But here is another chapter, IN GOBLIN TOWN! Just a slight warning, we are nearing the end of the first film... so would you prefer for us to wait until the next film or try and go off what is in the book? Gratias ago (latin for thanks)**

The plummet down to the heart of the mountain was ,thankfully short. It ended far better than the two adventurers had dared hope. They were not impaled on spears of rock, nor were they splatted across the crevice floor. Instead, they hit the bloated, slimy stomach of the Goblin King with terrifying speed. The huge mound of lard, which had landed some minutes before them, due to his great weight, broke their fall, thus catapulting them off his hugely distended stomach and saving their lives. The goblin king in question was badly winded, and could do no more than slobber weakly, despite his anger at being used as a personal trampoline. The aforementioned girls, after rebounding off the goblin king, hit the rough stone floor, littered with bones, mushrooms and mould.

"My back…", muttered Poppy staring dully at the tiny crack of light above them.

After many a minute of silent grumbling, she rolled onto her side, which appeared to be mass of bruises, and propped herself up on one badly scraped elbow. From the small vantage point, she viewed the relatively flat floor by the dim light which filtered down from above. The obese outline of the goblin king was vaguely visible in the gloom, but she could not see her blonde companion anywhere.

"Em…?" she whispered, daring to break the silence that was filling the crevice.

Her words were met by silence, until scrotum beard began to stir and abruptly sat up on his over large backside and attempted to regain his feet.

He rummaged around in a pouch that hung by a cord from his rather small loin cloth. After discarding various bundles of worn cloth, he finally revealed a pair of stones and an inconspicuous bundle of rags that revealed itself to be a flaming torch.

Mumbling into his scrotum beard, the king struck the two rocks together, creating sparks, which flew onto the torch igniting the oil soaked cloth. He held it aloft and attempted to peer through the darkness surrounding him.

"YOU!" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Poppy who was lying on the ground before him. He attempted to rise, failed and then shuffled forwards on his devastatingly large posterior.

However, the goblin king was quite dim, and forgot to look behind him and realise that there was only one girl before him when there should have been two. Emily drew her sword and buried it deep into the rolls of blubber surrounding the goblin king's wide girth.

He let out a moan and dropped the torch, howling in the process. While he was distracted by the pain in his bowels, Poppy lunged for his torch, catching it before it hit the ground. With an amazing show of tenacity, she heaved herself to her feet and lumbered off towards were her friend was, swaying slightly, clutching both of her beloved swords.

"Come on." She exclaimed as she stumbled past, going the speed of a disorientated tortoise. Behind her the goblin king blubbered away, calling for his distant guards.

After a few lumbering steps, a large out crop of rock loomed out of the gloom. Behind it was a rather roomy crevice, with just enough room to house two exhausted girls and a rather large flaming torch. Without further ado, the girls slumped down behind the scant shelter. Emily clutched a rib, wheezing violently.

"You ok Em?" Poppy asked rather worriedly, all anger at her friend dissipating.

"Yeah, just… you know… fell a HUNDRED FEET." gasped Emily.

She peered around the rocky outcrop. The crevice beyond it was completely black.

"Well... that could have been worse" Poppy grumbled, feeling the multiple bruises, grazes and rubble burns which afflicted her skin.

"But the question is how the bloody hell are we supposed to get out of this stink hole" complained Emily, stretching her long legs out in front of her. "Don't suppose there is a visitor centres, or a couple of maps lying around the place do you?"

"Considering our welcome, I doubt it, you noodle."

"Shh." Emily held up a hand for silence.

Behind their rather convenient rock, there came the tramping of flappy goblin feet.

"All hail his malevolence!" cried the shrill voice of a goblin.

A huge flare of light lit up the cavernous crack, and the sound of the goblin call orders echoed around the enclosed space. After a moment, the babble ceased, and the light began to gradually retreat. As soon as it seemed relatively safe, Emily slowly rose and crept out from the crevice.

"Where the hell are you going?" hissed Poppy, jumping to her feet.

"Well… if the goblins got down here, then there must be a way to get up and OUT of this damned mountain." Muttered her friend, peering into the dark cave. Only a tiny pinprick of light revealed where the goblins were. "Hurry up, or we'll lose them!"

And so the two sprinted along after the long train of subterranean monsters, leaving the distance behind them great enough to ensure that they were not spotted. After a relatively short amount of time, their path changed, sloping upwards, taking the shape of an irregular path way. Eventually, after numerous stumbles, scraped knees and close escapes, they reached their destination. Which fell far short of their high hopes. Instead of leading them to freedom, the goblin king's retinue had led them to one of the many large caverns which riddled the mountain, hung with lopsided and rickety walk ways. Ahead of them, they saw the tub of lard which they had been following burst up through a ramshackle walkway, to block the path of an oncoming party, led by a certain familiar figure…

"The Dwarves!" gasped Poppy, and then clapped a hand to her mouth, horrified, thinking she had blown their cover. However, the goblin king's remained with his back to them, and his little minions were too busy gibbering to notice or hear anything.

"With Gandalf." Murmured Emily, slowly unsheathing her twin swords. As they watched, the goblin king swung his great ugly mace/ walking stick, forcing the company back. Over the din, the pair just managed to hear Scrotum beard's gloating words.

"What are you going to do know, wizard?"

In reply, the tall gangly man in grey jabbed the great blubbering mass with the tip of his polished wooden staff.

"NOW!" yelled Poppy, quickly knocking, sighting and firing the arrow she had withdrawn from her quiver. At the same moment, her friend leapt forward and once again stabbed the unfortunate goblin king in the rear. To top it all, Gandalf promptly slit his great scrotum beard covered throat. The many layers of fat could not stand such an attack, and the Ruler of the goblins slumped dead against the wood works. The woodworks in question appeared to be old, and after only being used by the odd goblin, seemed incapable of hold the dead weight of the obese Goblin king, as well as a company of dwarves, including Bombur. The ropes holding it in place snapped and the entire structure plummeted down through the crevice below. Thankfully, the two girls had escaped the falling walkway, and sprinted away into a beautifully large tunnel leading away from the scene.

Although they were once again on their own, they managed to negotiate the tunnel, which was conveniently light with torches. They were exhausted and more than slightly stunned by the time they stumbled out of the cavernous kingdom onto the side of a mountain, sparsely covered in tall pines. From BEHIND them, the light of a setting sun light the surprisingly peaceful scene.


	14. Chapter 13

Poppy and Emily stormed out of the mountain, clutching their chests as they rapidly fought for breath. They paused for a brief moment at the edge of the trees, still panting terribly, to regain their bearings. It was true to be said that they both looked awful. Poppy's clothes were torn and her brown hair was frizzing up wildly, flying into Emily's eyes as it caught the wind. Annoyed, Emily batted it away. It seemed that her own hair or not, there was always some form of hair flicking into her face. Emily on the other hand looked no better. Her eyes were hollow from not seeing light for a considerable length of time, and her knuckles were bruised and grazed. She sat down wearily on a nearby rock, due to the fact that Emily had never enjoyed running, or any form of exercise for that matter- bar fencing. Emily thought back to her fencing back at home and how much she missed it now. Although it was quite like sword fighting, she had to admit that her opponents were never bloodthirsty goblins that wanted to rip her throat out. A nudging on her shoulder awakened Emily from her reminiscing daydreams and she batted whatever was touching her away. Poppy sighed in frustration.

"For crying out loud, Em, stop being so down in the dumps. We made it out of that stupid mountain! HALLELULIAH"

With that, Poppy bounded down the hill that ran away from the mountain and into a valley, leaping into the air with amazing height.

Emily grumbled in irritation. It seemed that her small friend, however nice she may be, always took every opportunity to show off her bloody ballet skills. Em groaned as she lifted herself off her beloved rock and staggered down the hill after her retreating friend. After many a stumble over inconspicuous (and conspicuous) rocks, Emily finally reached her friend, who had already arrived at the bottom of the ravine.

"Now…"Poppy pondered, lighting tapping her bow, which made Emily feel quite uneasy, even if she did not say this to her friend. "Where do the dwarves end up? I think I am losing my foresight…"

"What? Aren't they like… in the trees or something?"

"Yeah, obviously. But I can't remember WHERE!" she sighed. "Anyway, it doesn't really matter. I told Thorin we would be leaving in the morning"

"WHAT?!" Emily exclaimed, gesturing violently with her arms. "Why on earth did you do that?!"

"Wow, don't get so angry with me!" her friend replied, quite shocked by the blonde's sudden outburst. "I was trying to shut him up. As you might remember he was not being very pleasant during our little 'discussion' back in the cave"

"Whatever, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Now where are they?"

Emily shook her head in anger, since she could not recall where they ended up either. Nonetheless, much to her luck, she turned her head of tangled hair to face a row of trees just as Balin raced by, red robes billowing.

"BALIN!" Emily screamed, pointing an accusing finger at said dwarf.

Poppy looked to the trees where Emily was pointing and they both raced off, Poppy colliding headfirst into the unsuspecting Bombur as they reached the clearing.

As Poppy was staggering to get up, Emily raced over to Kili, who was standing harmlessly next to Fili at the edge of the company. He looked up just in time to see her coming before the blonde girl practically leapt on him, winding her long spindly arms around his neck.

"KILI!" she proclaimed in relief, but also out of breath because she had sprinted to see him.

Kili was about to reply something back to her when she grabbed his startled face in her hands and planted a kiss on his lips. Kili's eyes reflected shock for a brief moment before they turned to ones of pleasant surprise and he wound his arms around her, pulling her in tighter.

However, there lovely smooching session was interrupted by Poppy and Fili chanting "Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss" softly behind them.

They broke apart in surprise and Emily, realising what she had done, went bright red with embarrassment.

"No need to be shy, Leiress" Kili whispered as he took her hand in his. Emily attempted to smile back at him, but her smile ended up looking quite manic indeed.

"Ooooooooh I think I am starting to ship you guys!" Poppy announced in front of them for the whole company to hear.

"Oh yes, me too. I _totally_ ship them" Fili said, in a rather uncharacteristically high-pitched voice.

Poppy stared back at him in astonishment.

"Do you even_ know_ what ship means?" she inquired of the blonde dwarf.

"Not really, but it sounds tots legit." He exclaimed with a rather feminine hand gesture.

The rest of the company meanwhile was staring at Emily and Kili in awe, except Ori, who had a rather sickly look on his face.

"Well" Dwalin began, "Looks like one of them is gone!"

The rest of the company laughed and Dwalin elbowed Poppy in the ribs, "Right, lass?"

Poppy slunk away from him, slightly disturbed, predominantly due to the fact that every time she saw Dwalin the only thing she could think of was the 'King of the Rock'.

Emily was pleased to see (and hear) that no one of the company seemed to be opposing the sudden revelation of her interest in Kili. Nonetheless, who should ruin the blissful moment but Thorin, who was standing at the back of the company, glaring at Emily in a get-away-from-my-nephew-you-slut kind of way. Thorin looked like he was about to voice these thoughts when Gandalf's concerned drone drew attention away from the pair.

"That makes thirteen… Where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit?" he questioned, causing everyone to look around them, as if Bilbo was about to suddenly jump out from the undergrowth.

"Curse that Halfling" Dwalin exclaimed angrily, "Now he's lost?"

"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin accused, which Emily thought to be most unjust.

"Don't blame me!" Dori defended, looking quite bemused himself.

"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf asked patiently, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"I don't blame him for getting frustrated with these dwarves" Poppy muttered to Emily, who nodded in agreement.

Then, for the first time since the quest had begun, Nori spoke up.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us"

"Well that's helpful" Emily muttered in her friend's ear, causing Poppy to let out a muffled giggle.

"What happened exactly?" Gandalf exclaimed, obviously getting quite frustrated now, "TELL ME!"

Nori was about to answer when who should interrupt but Thorin, no doubt to insult the hobbit further.

"I'll tell you what happened" he began accusingly, ignoring warning glares from the two girls standing across the clearing. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing our Hobbit again."

"Ummm yes we will, quite soon actually" Emily interjected, causing Thorin to whip his head around and stare at her angrily, obviously annoyed by the interruption

"He is long gone."

The dwarves all looked at each other, confused, and Emily began to count down from three.

"Three…two…one"

After she had said one, Bilbo appeared from behind them.

"No, he isn't" he proclaimed loudly for all of the company to hear.

"Ha HA!" Emily shouted at Thorin. Nevertheless, her outburst was silenced by a jab in the ribs from one of Poppy's elbows.

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Gandalf smiled, looking genuinely pleased.

Bilbo gave a rather chuffed grin at the wizard's statement.

"Bilbo! We'd given you up!" Kili exclaimed, still entwined in Emily's tight embrace. Bilbo's eyebrows creased into a confused frown as he stared at them, it seemed that he, un like the rest of the company, was un aware of the chemistry between the two.

"How on, like, EARTH did you get past the goblins?" Fili voiced, yet again in a very odd voice. The dwarves stared at him perplexedly, trying to decipher his strange linguistics.

"How, indeed" Dwalin muttered from next to Poppy. Poppy realised that Dwalin had crept over and was now invading her personal space by standing un-necessarily close. She cautiously side-stepped away from him and towards Emily. However, Emily was still clinging onto Kili and Poppy decided that she did not want to bear witness to whatever may be going on over there. With a slightly uneasy sigh she moved back to stand next to Dwalin, who looked down at her with a rather unsettling smirk. Poppy frowned at him and opened her mouth to demand he stay out of her personal bubble, when Thorin pushed his way between the two with crossed arms. Poppy looked up at him, rather confused.

"Ummmm, Thorin? What are you doing?"

Whether he had heard her or not he made no attempt to reply. Poppy continued to stare bemusedly at him and a strange thought entered her mind before she pushed it away, sighing to herself.

While she had been focused on Thorin's arbitrary interjection, the conversation had moved elsewhere.

"It matters!" Thorin shouted, jolting Poppy out of her daydreams. "I want to know: why did you come back?"

There was a brief awkward silence which included Bilbo staring at the questioning Dwarf King in an admirable way.

"Em!" Poppy whispered. Whispering was proven quite difficult since Emily was on the other side of the clearing and her friend was wedged between The King of the Rock and the King under the Mountain.

"Em!" she persisted. "It's BAGGINSHIELD!"

"What's that?" Ori asked curiously, once again demonstrating his profound ignorance.

"Well, if you really want to know it's-" Poppy's excited mumbles were cut short by a shocked glance from Em, which brought Poppy back to her senses. "It's nothing". She finished, looking down at the ground.

Thorin narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, a small thought beginning to form in his mind about the connection between 'Baggin'and 'shield'.

Thankfully, any disquieting thoughts he might have been forming were interrupted by the start of a very heart felt speech by Bilbo.

"Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back, because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."

Thorin and Bilbo stared at eachother for a good long while and for a second, Poppy thought she saw admiration and acceptance for the hobbit shine in the dwarf's intense blue eyes.

Nonetheless, their beautiful moment was interrupted by the howls of many wargs from back up the valley.

Poppy looked up in alarm and looked for Emily among the circle of people. However, disturbingly, her blonde friend was nowhere to be found.

"Out of the frying pan" Thorin muttered, grabbing Poppy's arm and pulling her down the valley along with him.

"And into the fire! Run!" Gandalf finished with a dramatic swirl of his grey robes.

"Wait! Where's Em? Thorin, let go of me! I have to find Em!"

Whether he had heard her or not, Thorin did not loosen his grip on the struggling girl's arm. The company continued to move down the mountain, the wargs following then at an alarming pace. Poppy had just enough time to look over her shoulder for her lost friend once more before she was knocked to the ground.

* * *

**Thank you :) Thank you to reviewers, favouriters and followers :D**

**Also I desperately need to do something about these chapter names. It's getting very confusing with the whole '14: Chapter 13' thing. I apologise**


	15. Chapter 15

Gradually, the darkness shadowing Poppy's vision gave way to a rather unusual, yet peaceful scene. Once again, she had been transported to an unknown location. Archaic trees formed a thick canopy above her and the darkness beneath their branches was lit by mysteriously burning orbs. She was standing in a small glade, behind her a mossy set of stairs let upwards, and in front of her small waterfall flowed serenely into a pool overgrown with moss and other various vegetation.

In the middle of the scene there was a low stone bowl, resting atop a pedestal. Poppy walked up to the bowl, thoroughly enchanted by the glow it seemed to emit. Who should interrupt this peaceful moment but Em, who had awakened from a distant slumber.

"Whaaaa?" she muttered, regaining her feet and ambling up to the bowl. Poppy jumped when her friend made this slightly unsettling noise and suddenly remembered the reason why she had been knocked out in the first place.

"Em!" she shouted, marching up to her friend, "Where have you been? Why did you disappear? The wargs are coming to KILL us!"

"Too many questions" Emily murmured, rubbing her head. "But I do remember wandering off with Kili. He had an idea of some 'private time' before the company moved on. But I wandered too far away from him… then tripped over a rock and well, here we are"

"You are so clumsy"

"I know…I know…" she paused. "Now to address the real question: where the hell are we?"

"You are in the forest of the Lady Galadriel" an ethereal voice replied. Emily and Poppy jumped up in surprise and, in her shock, Emily almost tipped over the sacred bowl. Em blushed awkwardly but the Lady of Light made no actions to display that she had acknowledged this mishap.

"You have been summoned here" she began and the two girls struggled to keep their composure. "So that you can fulfil your destiny"

"Our destiny?" Em interrupted rather rudely. "I think you have already informed me of this destiny. Remember? In Rivendell? YOU SPOKE IN MY HEAD?!"

Poppy elbowed her friend in the ribs to shut her up. It was true to say that Em could get a bit overexcited sometimes.

The Lady Galadriel however, did not appear alarmed by the blonde's outburst. "Yes, Lady Emilia. You are correct, I did speak in your head"

"Lady Emilia?!" Emily shrieked, "What is this?!"

Once more, Poppy had to elbow her friend in the ribs.

Galadriel continued despite the haphazard interruption. "Both of you must have realised by now that you have been sent to Middle-Earth for a reason." She paused, taking in the alarmed expressions of the two girls. "You have the gift of foresight. You know of the fate that awaits the line of Durin at the gates of Erebor. You, and you alone, can stop this"

There was silence in the glade. Poppy appeared quite alarmed and began to breathe very heavily, fear beginning to show in her eyes as she rolled over the Elf's words in her mind. Emily on the other hand, was in league with no such subtleties.

"Yeah we KNOW that" she exclaimed, kicking the grass with her dirty shoe. "You have told us that already. Why tell us again?"

Before Galadriel could reply, Poppy made it clear that she had had enough of her friend's discourtesy and thus began to shout various remarks of abuse.

"For crying out loud, Em! Stop being so childish and listen! If you hadn't have kept interrupting with your pointless comments and mundane questions, we would already be back with the company! I don't know where the hell YOU are, but last thing I remember, I was knocked to the ground by a warg because I was trying to find you! For all I know, I could be being eaten by one of those fell beasts right now! So please, for the sake of everyone's sanity, if not just my own, listen to reason for once!"

Emily, grey eyes wide with astonishment, stared at her friend in shock. Galadriel however was smiling down at Poppy. It seemed that she too had begun to become infuriated by Emily's interruptions, even if she did not show it.

"You are very well spoken, Lothiriel. I can see that you are strong, even though you do not look it. You possess a grace and beauty much like my kin. Thorin Oakenshield has chosen well"

"Wha-" Poppy began bewilderedly. But the Lady Galadriel had moved her attention elsewhere.

"Authiel, Battle Maiden" she began, addressing Emily now. "You are strong and valiant and hold valour unseen in even the bravest of men. You possess an inner radiance that will come forth in the days to come. But, you must take heed to the words of your companion. It is sometimes better to be the listener than the speaker."

Emily blushed profusely, whether it be from the compliments of Galadriel or the later comment.

"But now you must return" the Lady continued, "For you have much to prepare. And remember, your duty in this world is to protect the line of Durin. And you must be willing to do this. Even at the cost of your life"

Poppy nodded nervously and Emily opened her mouth to protest. "Of course I would protect Ki-"

However, her words were cut short by a silencing glance from the Lady of Light. Poppy rolled her eyes. Had her friend really just forgotten everything she had been told?"

"I know you will protect him, Authiel. For I do not doubt your courage or love. But now I must send you back. Farewell."

And with that, the beautiful glade around them dissolved into nothingness and the light before them turned black.

* * *

**Bit of a short chapter, I apologise. But I hoped you enjoyed :)**

**Authiel means "Battle Maiden" and Lothiriel means "Maiden of Light/Flowers"**

**Also, I decided to just name this chapter 'chapter 15' because things were getting confusing**


	16. Chapter 16

The vision of the glade slowly faded into a soft, all-encompassing darkness. However, the return to consciousness was far less gentle. The first sensation Poppy experienced was a blast of hot, fetid breathe and a stench of rotting meat.

With a slight gasp, her eyelids flicked open in time to catch a glimpse of yellow fangs snapping inches from her face, before the warg in question was thrust aside, and promptly skewered through the throat. Still disorientated at the rapid change of scenery, Poppy blinked slowly. A new face filled her vision. It took few moments for her eyes to focus before she realised that Thorin Oakenshield was staring down at her, illuminated by the final rays of the setting sun. His mouth was moving, like he was trying to talk. She vaguely wondered what he was trying to say, and why he didn't just speak like a normal dwarf, for goodness sakes. Her eyes slid past his, and focused on the scene over his shoulder. The 12 remaining dwarves were engaged in a ferocious skirmish with wargs. The tableau was slightly skewed, and it dawned on her that she must still be lying on her back. She probably should get up. At that precise moment, that specific choice was taken away from her, for Thorin, obviously tired of speaking to her, unceremoniously grabbed her around the waist, and threw her over his should. He then proceeded to sprint down the hill, with her slung over his back like a sack of potatoes. She bounced up and down, her nose slamming unceremoniously into the back of his fur trimmed vest. After a particularly weighty slam against the dwarf kings back, her voice, hearing and senses returned.

"Hey! Let me down!" she exclaimed.

When he did not deign to reply, she did the first course of action that came to mind. Poppy grabbed a lock his is long black hair in a free hand and tugged. With a very loud bellow, Thorin dropped her like a hot coal. She had not entirely expected that course of action, and consequently held onto the hair as she fell. Not wishing to part with any of his luscious locks, Thorin toppled over, and promptly collapsed on top of her.

"Good GOD!" Poppy grasped, trapped beneath the dwarf. Armed and wearing a vest of mail, he was not light weight. "You weigh a tonne! Get off me Thorin, your sword is sticking into me." As soon as she had uttered the final words, Poppy turned a bright red that even a tomato would envy.

"Stupid woman", Thorin muttered, heaving himself to his feet, and rearranging his sword belt. To Poppy's utter relief, it appeared to only have been Orcrist after all. Then she remembered the words that Lady Galadriel had said to her in the Glade and she turned an even deeper scarlet.

Thorin seemed not to notice, for he was dashing towards a nearby tree. Dwalin and Fili who were perched on lower branches helped pull him into the tree. Quickly Poppy followed suit, and leapt lightly into the tree and climbed up until she sat beside him. Thorin scowled at her from underneath his caterpillar like eyebrows.

"What the hell happened" he shouted over the yelping of the wargs below. "You simply blacked out, in the middle of a fight! What in Durin's name happened?"

"Wait…" muttered Poppy, completely ignoring Thorin's question. "Where's Em-Leiress?"

"Em who?" replied Gandalf, perched like a stalk on the branches above them.

"Leiress… where is she?"

"For that matter", grumbled Dwalin, "Where is Kili?"

Any other conversation was drowned out, as the wargs howled below them, snapping at the dwarves perched above them. Then, through the darkness, a figure emerged. An orc so pale that in the twilight he seemed to glow. A pale orc astride a white warg.

"Azog" breathed Thorin, a look of utter confusion and horror painted across his face. "It cannot be"

Despite Thorin's allegations, Azog was very much alive. He bellowed a command in the twisted black language of the orcs. The wargs returned to the attack, leaping up and attempting to drag the dwarves plus one hobbit and a wizard, out of the trees. Only then did Poppy realise that Bilbo had returned. She had little time to dwell on the matter, for beneath them, the weight of the wargs and that of the dwarves, who were none to light, proved too much for the pines. Slowly, with many creaks, the pine trees in front of them began to give way. As they fell the dwarves in their branches were flung into other trees, until only one pine remained standing, its branches hanging over a drop. With a slight gulp, Poppy glanced down. The world seemed to sway again, for below them was a 200ft drop onto the dark forest.

Then she nearly fell out of the tree in shock, as beside Thorin bellowed, "Kili!" Glancing down, Poppy caught sight of the dark haired dwarf, straddling the branch below them.

"Is Leiress with you?!" he exclaimed, grabbing at a branch beside him as the tree swayed.

"No, she wondered off with you!" yelled back Poppy, glad of the excuse to focus on anything aside from the drop below her. "Wait… what happened?"

To her surprise, Kili turned an astonishing shade of red. "Umm…ah, just... um… nothing really" his voice trailed off.

"Oh reallyy" crowed Poppy, thoroughly amused by his discomfort. Around, Dwalin, Bilbo and Gandalf, who were oblivious to the interrogation occurring below them, began hurling fiery pine cones at the wargs below. Hoping the change the topic, Kili gratefully accepted a cone from his brother and pelted it at the warg below.

"What _were_ you doing?" began Thorin as he chucked a pine cone towards the mass of monsters below them.

"Nothing…"his nephew mumbled, then realised that this answer would not suffice. "well… just… tactics! Just… battle tactics."

"Battle tactics?" Poppy raised a single eyebrow sceptically.

"Umm… yes…"

"And what happened to Leiress?"

The conversation between the trio had attracted the attention of many of the other dwarves

"She went into the bushes to umm… to demonstrate a… ambush" finished Kili after an excessive amount of throat clearing.

"An ambush eh?" grunted Dwalin, lobbing a pine cone.

"And what would this ambush entail?" grinned Fili from the branch above them.

"It doesn't matter" mumbled Kili, turning away from the many sly winks and suggestive chuckles. "She went into a bush to do the ahh ambush. Then the wargs leapt out of nowhere. I thought she had run on ahead so I… I… left her… behind."

On that depressing note, the small conversation ended. Poppy looked down at the scene of mayhem below her. The fallen trees had caught fire, and wargs streaked away into the night, howling as flames licked their hides.

"It's working!" cried Bilbo

Sadly, the poorly thought out plan had worked only too well. The fire had begun to eat away to the tree upon which they perched. Slowly, its roots began to give way.

* * *

The tree would collapse soon. It hung vertically over the lip of the cliff. Ori and Dori had already fallen from the branch, and clung on to the tip of Gandalf's staff. The fire on the surrounding trees lighting the scene with a flickering orange light. Around her, the other dwarves, one hobbit and Gandalf gripped the various limbs of the tree. And still there was no sign of Emily. Maybe she lay dead, eaten by the wargs.

Poppy was more accurate with this statement than she cared to realise. Out of the smoke and flicking fire, came Azog, still astride his white warg.

"You are missing a member of your party."

His voice sound like gravel and scratched against Poppy's ear drums. A leer stretched across his pallid face as he gestured with an iron claw set into his severed arm to an orc behind him. The orc in question urged the warg he rode forward. As it into full view , the company could see what it dragged in its mouth. The beast had Emily's shoulder clamped between fetid jaws, and was heaving the rest of her along the ground. Poppy felt horror flow through her veins. Below her, Kili looked as if he had been hit over the head.

"I can see that I have something you want. And you have something I want. Give me Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, Once-King under the Mountain."

Before any member of the company could react to his shocking demand, Poppy whipped out an arrow from the quiver still slung over her back, slipped her bow over her shoulder and into her hands. Knocking the arrow, she stood up right, balancing on the swaying log. This arrogant prick thought he could threaten her friend and the dwarf she had been charged to protect, and get away with it? They had nearly died so many times on this journey so far. She, personally, had no plans of dying any time before they reached Erebor. Poppy drew the arrow to the corner of her mouth, sighting down the shaft. At this moment, one usually gave a stirring line of defiance until death. Unable to remember one at this crucial time, she cried the first thing which came to mind.

"Fuck off, you wanker!"

With that, she released the arrow. It flew straight and true, hitting her target with a smack. The warg holding Emily in its jaws keeled over dead. The blonde rolled side ways to avoid being crushed by its heavy body. Leaping to her feet and drawing the twin blades crossed over her shoulders, she rapidly decapitated the orc lying at her feet, trapped beneath the warg.

A howl of rebellion rose from the dwarves around Poppy. Thorin however, rose to his feet. Silhouetted against the dark night, light by the flames, he looked majestic. Without a word he drew Orcrist and walked slowly down the trunk of the tree, past Poppy, past Bilbo. In front of them, Azog smiled, despite the skirmish breaking out behind him as Emily attempted to fend off multiple attacks from various wargs. Leaning over the white wargs neck, he caressed her fur with his clawed hand, and urged her forward. Thorin began to run, and the warg sped up. They met half way. It was over quickly. The Defiler swung his spiked mace in a deadly arc, and its heavy head collided with Thorin's face. As he fell, the warg grasped his limb body in its jaws and tossed it over, towards the edge of the precipice. Desperately, Poppy turned to the halfling cowering beside her. Due to faulty memory, she could not remember all that had transpired during the Hobbit. However, she did remember that it was Bilbo who saved Thorin.

"Go" she yelled above the howls of pain from the wargs as Emily continued to slice them to bits. She fired to more arrows, and more orcs fell dead. Turning to glare at the hobbit, she shrieked again. "MOVE! You need to save him!"

This direct order seemed to galvanise Bilbo into action. Shakily, he drew Sting and shuffled down the trembling tree trunk. Ahead, an orc dismounted from his warg and advanced on Thorin. Seeing this, Poppy gave Bilbo a hefty shove between the shoulder blades with the tip of her bow. Unsteadily at first, then gathering speed, he pelted towards where Thorin lay. Momentarily distracted, Poppy watched the scene. Time seemed to slow. Bilbo sprinted forwards, just as the orc reached the spot where Thorin lay. Without moment's hesitation, he leapt forward, killing the orc. And there he stood. A tiny little hobbit, up against the pure evil of Azog the Defiler. Despite having to be forced every step of the way, his bravery struck Poppy as quite incredible. It seemed to have a similar effect on the dwarves. All twelve had remained frozen while the scene had played out before them. Now they were galvanised into action. Beside and behind her, Poppy heard them roar with triumph and suddenly they all rushed forwards, bearing her along. Caught up in the moment, she ran along with them, until realising, that with only a bow and arrows she would fare better at the back of the battle. She stopped and began to fire arrow after arrow and the monstrous wargs and orcs. She looked around for Leiress, and saw her trapped against a tree, fending off multiple attacks. As Poppy watched, Kili and Dwalin slashed through the circle around her. All around, the dwarves hacked and slashed at the wargs and orcs. However, some of the more intelligent beasts amongst them came to the conclusion that the skirmish would fare better for them without an archer aiding the opposing side. Consequently, Poppy soon found herself face to face with a hideous warg. Again. However this time it had a rider which was equally interested in killing her. As the monster raised his sword, a series of high pitched shrieks echoed around the clearing, much like those of a large bird.

Suddenly, Poppy felt herself lifted into the air by a set of huge talons. Just as suddenly she was falling through dark air, she landed on the broad back of a huge eagle. Joyfully, she raised her bow above her head.

"The eagles are coming!"

* * *

**This chapter is up rather early- mainly due to a certain someoneeee (sarahffs) wanting it to be put up. Anywho enjoy and review :)**


	17. Chapter 17

The eagles landed rather abruptly on the slippery, rocky surface. Poppy, being a dancer, jumped lightly off the eagle, landing in a first position. Emily, however, was not as co-ordinated a thus became slightly tangled in the feathers of a great wing, toppled over, and fell face down onto the rock. Poppy grabbed her taller friend by the arm and pulled her up.

"Honestly, Em, must you always fall over?"

"It appears so, yes" her friend replied, dusting some dirt off her leather clad shoulder.

Their conversation was interrupted by Gandalf rushing past them, grey robs billowing, yelling, "Thorin! Thorin!"

The girls' eyes followed the galumphing wizard to where the dwarf in question lay unconscious on the rock.

The whole company rushed over, and Emily went to stand beside Kili, leaving Poppy to stand awkwardly next to Fili and Dwalin, not quite sure of where to go.

"I hope he's alright" Kili whispered to Emily anxiously. "I don't think I have ever seen uncle like this before."

"Trust me" Emily smiled, taking his hand in her own. "He will be fine"

Given that she could see the 'future', Emily was correct, and a few seconds after her proclamation, Thorin opened his eyes.

"The Halfling?" he whispered weakly. Gandalf gestured towards Bilbo, who was standing just behind them, smiling faintly.

"You! What were you doing?" Thorin began, advancing towards the hobbit. "You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?"

"Thorin, don't you dare say anything-" Poppy began before the breath was startled out of her as the King under the Mountain himself enveloped the startled hobbit in a hug.

"I have never been so wrong in all my life!"

Everybody started cheering, which Emily thought to be most odd. While she was pondering over these strange turn of events, Poppy was standing behind the two, smiling and blushing quite copiously.

"Em! It's Bagginshield! BAGGINSHIELD!" she exclaimed, attempting to emit a whisper that came out as quite an urgent shout. Everybody present looked at her rather confusedly, for they were yet to put two and two together and find out what 'Bagginshield' meant.

Gandalf, it appeared had already guessed, and seemed about to divert the conversation elsewhere before Thorin asphyxiated his eyes upon something in the distance. Gandalf sighed with relief as the attention of the dwarves was brought away from this 'Bagginshield', at least he would not have to interfere today.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked, standing somewhat proudly beside Thorin, obviously still chuffed from the hug he had received.

"Erebor" Gandalf announced. "The Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middles Earth"

"Our home" the king of said dwarf kingdom declared proudly.

"Well, it's a pretty long way away!" Emily shouted from the back of the group, completely ruining the moment.

"It doesn't matter, Leiress" Kili whispered. "Maybe, if we ever get there… you could stay for a while. With me, I mean…"

Emily looked at him and breathed in deeply. And something inside her told her that she had never felt this happy before in her entire life. "Yes, maybe" she replied tersely, for she had never been good with words.

From next adjacent to her, Poppy sighed at her friend. She was truly hopeless. But nonetheless, Poppy felt something stir inside of her. Jealously? No, it was not jealously. Sighing at her idiocy, she looked back to the Mountain in the distance and caught Thorin's eye. They looked at eachother for a brief moment before he blinked away, almost looking uncomfortable for a second before regaining his majestic gaze upon the Mountian. Her mind immediately jumped to the words of Lady Galadriel; _"Thorin Oakenshield has chosen well". _She blushed, hiding her face behind her long, dark hair. She pushed that thought out of her mind and walked over to stand next to Thorin, who glared down at her. She gave an equally scathing glare back to him, but she would worry about it another day.

"It looks like the worst is behind us!" Bilbo smiled just as the sun began to set behind the Mountains.

* * *

**This was quite a short chapter, I must apologise profusely. The next part has been written, but it was thought to be better to end this chapter with the end of the 1st film, instead of adding some extra part at the end. Buuuutttt the good news is is that the next chapter is practically finished! So 'twill be up soon. I would like to thank everybody for reviewing! You really all make my day :)**


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